Gru and the minions celebrated a second week in first place at the North American box office this weekend, while a small horror movie called “Longlegs” upset the starry $100 million “Fly Me to the Moon.”
The supremacy of “Despicable Me 4” was hardly a surprise, as the Universal and Illumination franchise added $44.7 million and pushed the film over $200 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. But the big upset came further down the charts with “Longlegs,” more than doubling the debut of the Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum romantic comedy “Fly Me to the Moon.”
“Longlegs,” an original horror about a serial killer starring Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage, made an estimated $22.6 million from 2,510 theaters. That’s the best start for indie outfit Neon (most famous for releasing the Oscar-winning “Parasite”), which acquired the $10 million film for distribution. Written and directed by Osgood Perkins, “Longlegs” scored this year’s best opening for an R-rated movie.
Neon deployed several innovative marketing strategies for the film, including touches like placing cipher messages in local newspapers and posting a Los Angeles billboard with a phone number that played an “unnerving” message. In its first 48 hours, the number received over 250,000 calls from fans of the genre.
“Longlegs” was well-received by critics, with an 87% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However, some audiences were less enthusiastic, giving it a C+ CinemaScore.
“Fly Me to the Moon,” an Apple Original Films production, launched with only $10 million over the weekend. It trailed holdovers “Inside Out 2,” in third with $20.8 million, and “A Quiet Place: Day One,” in fourth place with $11.8 million.
Sony distributed “Fly Me to the Moon,” the Greg Berlanti-directed film about a marketing executive brought in to sell the space race to the American public and, later, stage a fake moon landing just in case. Apple has yet to announce when it will debut on its streaming service.
The movie opened in 3,356 locations this weekend, attracting an audience of mostly over 45. In this case, the audience was kinder than the critics, giving it an A CinemaScore against a 67% on Rotten Tomatoes, suggesting that word-of-mouth may work in its favor over the long run.
The year-to-date gap between box office performance this year and last is gradually decreasing. The difference is now 16.1% lower than in 2023 thanks to a string of recent hits. However, the current performance still falls short of pre-pandemic levels. On July 14, 2019, the annual box office revenue reached $6.2 billion, while this year, it stands at $4.1 billion so far.
“A very unpredictable summer movie season continues,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “And after a slow start in May (it) has continued to surprise and impress with expected and unexpected hits, adding bottom-line dollars to the industry’s most important season.”
In a limited release, A24 opened “Sing Sing,” an early Oscar contender, in four New York and Los Angeles theaters. With sellouts in both locations, it made $137,119, one of the best-limited openings of the year. The film from director Greg Kwedar is about an arts program at the prison and features many real-life participants, including Clarence Maclin in his film debut. “Sing Sing” will continue playing on four screens through July and expand nationwide in August.
Finally, “Twisters,” which opens in North America on Thursday, began its international rollout this weekend, earning a remarkable $11.5 million from 38 markets. These markets include Australia, Mexico and Brazil. Fans of the movie from these countries came out in large numbers to enjoy the thrilling experience brought to theaters by “Twisters.”
In its wake comes “Deadpool & Wolverine,” the first Marvel release of the summer.
According to Comscore, estimated ticket sales are for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters.
1. “Despicable Me 4,” $44.7 million
2. “Longlegs,” $22.6 million
3. “Inside Out 2,” $20.8 million
4. “A Quiet Place: Day One,” $11.8 million
5. “Fly Me to the Moon,” $10 million
6. “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” $4.4 million
7. “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1,” $2.4 million
8. “MaXXXine,” $2.1 million
9. “Indian 2,” $2 million
10. “Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot,” $1.3 million