Barbaric
The 20th Century Studios and the New Regency horror thriller Barbaric debuted at #1 with an estimate of $10.0 million, slightly above pre-release projections that put it closer to $8 million.
Notably, with just 2,340 theaters, the film managed to grab the top spot despite having the seventh-widest screen count of any film on the market. It’s behind:
- Spider-Man: No Coming Home Reissue 2022 (3215)
- The invite (3,117)
- High-speed train (3,056)
- DC League of Super Pets (3,043)
- Top Gun: Maverick (3,005)
- The beast (2,793)
Compared to some other comparable horror titles from the post-pandemic era, Barbaric open:
- -5% below 2021 Don’t breathe 2 ($10.6M)
- +13% compared to 2021 Escape Room: Tournament of Champions ($8.8M)
- +14% compared to 2021 Spiral ($8.7M)
- +46% compared to August The invite ($6.8M)
- +84% compared to 2021 clever ($5.4 million, debuting day and date simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max)
The estimated audience for Barbaric was 58% male and 61% aged 25 and over.
Overseas, the film debuted in just seven markets (mostly smaller Latin American territories) for just $0.5 million.
Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva
Hindi action-adventure Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva started in second place with an estimate of $4.4 million, on the slightly higher end of the pre-release projections which were around $3.5 million.
The release of Star Studios started in just 810 theaters, only about 25% of the reach of the widest films in the market. As a result, its average of $5,432 per room ranks first among titles this weekend.
Compared to other top Indian films of recent years, this first film is:
- -53% below March RRR ($9.5M in 1,200 theaters)
- -57% below 2017 Baahubali 2: the conclusion ($10.4 million in 419 theaters)
- +23% compared to 2014 PACK ($3.5M in 272 theaters)
- +35% compared to 2016 Dangal ($3.2M in 331 theaters)
- +36% compared to 2015 Baahubali: the beginning ($3.2 million in 236 theaters)
The estimated audience for shiva was 58% male and older at 70% aged 25 and older.
Abroad, shivaThis weekend’s Indian debut led the box office there with $18.9 million, marking the No. 8 opening weekend of all time and the No. 2 opening for a Indian movie.
Top Gun: Maverick
Thanks in part to an increase in the number of screens, Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick unlikely returned to a third non-consecutive appearance at No. 1 last weekend, grossing $6.0 million in its 15th weekend.
Now in its 16th weekend, it drops to fourth place with a -47% drop, marking its biggest drop to date. Its previous steepest came in its third weekend, when it fell -42% from the massive $145 million debut of Jurassic World: Dominion.
After earning “only” opening weekend #41 all-time ($126.7 million), it has remained near the all-time high for every frame since – and generally the top 10:
- #8 second weekend all-time ($90.0M)
- #10 third weekend ($51.8M)
- #3 fourth weekend ($44.6M)
- #4 fifth weekend ($29.6M)
- #4 Sixth Weekend ($25.5M)
- #7 seventh weekend ($15.5M)
- #8 eighth weekend ($12.3M)
- #6 ninth weekend ($10.2M)
- #10 tenth weekend ($8.4M)
- #17 eleventh weekend ($7.0M)
- #9 Twelfth Weekend ($7.0 million again)
- #13 Thirteenth Weekend ($5.8M)
- #13 fourteenth weekend ($4.7M)
- #7 fifteenth weekend ($6.0M)
- Now #29 Sixteenth Weekend ($3.1M)
Abroad, maverick sits at $747.8 million, for $1.45 billion worldwide – the best movie of 2022 both globally and domestically. The top five foreign market totals to date include:
- United Kingdom ($101.5 million)
- Japan ($92.0M)
- South Korea ($66.8m)
- Australia ($64.0 million)
- France ($57.4M)
brand of life
Fathom Events Faith brand of life debuted at number seven with $2.2 million.
Compared to some other pandemic-era religious films, this opening box office is:
- -62% behind 2021 American Underdog ($5.8M)
- -37% behind January redemptive love ($3.5M)
- -59% behind April Father Stu ($5.4M)
- +58% compared to May family camp ($1.4M)
Playing in 1,531 theaters, it occupied less than half the reach of this weekend’s widest releases.
Spider-Man: No Coming Home
Sony Pictures December 2021 re-release Spider-Man: No Coming Home took third place with $5.4 million. This frame, it drops -76% to $1.3M and 10th place.
That’s steeper than the second-year drops for all the other highest-grossing theatrical re-releases in recent memory:
- 2011 reissue of 1993 The Lion King (-27%)
- 2012 reissue of 1997 Titanic (-31%)
- 2009 reissue of 1995 toy story (-38%)
- 2010 reissue of 2009 Avatar (-44%)
- 2012 reissue of 1991 The beauty and the Beast (-51%)
- 2013 reissue of 1993 jurassic park (-52%)
- 2012 reissue of 1999 Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (-65%)
- The August 1982 reissue AND the extra-terrestrial (-69%)
Universal’s 1975 reissue Jaws also took ninth place last weekend with $2.6 million. Universal doesn’t appear to have reported a Sunday morning studio estimate for this image, although the actual data is expected to come out Monday afternoon.
Interviews
PRO ticket office interviewed the makers of four movies that grossed over $1 million this weekend.
- Lily PRO ticket officeinterview with High-speed train director David Leitch here.
- Lily PRO ticket officeinterview with The beast director Baltasar Kormakur here.
- Lily PRO ticket officeinterview with The invite director Jessica M. Thompson here.
- Lily PRO ticket officeinterview with Where the Crawdads sing directorOlivia Newman here.
Weekend comparisons
The total box office this weekend was around $38.5 million, or:
- -30% below last weekend’s total ($55.1M), while Top Gun: Maverick led for a third nonconsecutive frame with $6.0 million.
- -65% below the equivalent weekend in 2021 ($110.4M), when Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings led with $75.3 million.
- -72% less than the equivalent weekend of the last pre-pandemic year 2019 ($138.4M), when It: Chapter 2 led with $91.0 million.
This weekend marks the second lowest total weekend of 2022, behind only the January 28 frame, when Spider-Man: No Coming Home (still during its original run) led with $11.0 million on its seventh frame.
This also marks the third straight weekend in which Best Picture has fallen to $10 million or less.
For context, the last time this happened was May 21-23, 2021, when Spiral led with $4.5 million in its second-year frame. At that time, the box office was just beginning to take the first timid steps in its post-pandemic recovery.
Year-to-date comparisons
The year-to-date box office is around $5.39 billion. This is:
- 2.40x that same point in the pandemic recovery year of 2021 ($2.24 billion), down from 2.46x after last weekend.
- -32.4% behind that same point in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year ($7.99 billion), compared to -31.8% last weekend. The peak was around -29.5%, set in mid-July.
Top Distributors
- Universal ($1.25 billion)
- Paramount ($1.16 billion)
- Disney ($879.9M)
- Warner Bros. ($712.0 million)
- Sony Pictures ($695.4 million)
Sunday Studio Weekend Estimates:
| Title | Estimated weekend | % change | Pitches | Change of location | Medium | Total | Weekend | Distributer |
| Barbaric | $10,000,000 | 2,340 | $4,274 | $10,000,000 | 1 | 20th century workshops | ||
| Brahmastra Part 1: Shiva | $4,400,000 | 810 | $5,432 | $4,400,000 | 1 | Star Studios | ||
| High-speed train | $3,250,000 | -44% | 3,056 | -61 | $1,063 | $92,543,738 | 6 | Sony Pictures |
| Top Gun: Maverick | $3,170,000 | -47% | 3,005 | -108 | $1,055 | $705,650,344 | 16 | Primordial |
| DC League of Super Pets | $2,835,000 | -44% | 3,043 | -72 | $932 | $85,421,285 | seven | Warner Bros. |
| The invite | $2,620,000 | -46% | 3,117 | 3 | $841 | $18,845,563 | 3 | Sony Pictures |
| brand of life | $2,212,288 | 1,531 | $1,445 | $2,212,288 | 1 | Fathom Events | ||
| The beast | $1,800,000 | -55% | 2,793 | -424 | $644 | $29,375,780 | 4 | Universal |
| Minions: The Rise of Gru | $1,650,000 | -53% | 2,274 | -183 | $726 | $362,331,415 | 11 | Universal |
| Spider-Man: No Coming Home | $1,300,000 | -76% | 3,215 | -720 | $404 | $813,348,862 | Sony Pictures | |
| Where the Crawdads sing | $1,200,000 | -41% | 1990 | -84 | $603 | $87,588,924 | 9 | Sony Pictures |
| Thor: Love and Thunder | $1,000,000 | -63% | 1,850 | -240 | $541 | $342,270,791 | ten | waltz disney |
| Nope | $830,000 | -53% | 1,142 | -376 | $727 | $122,007,805 | 8 | Universal |
| Medieval | $810,000 | 1,311 | $618 | $810,000 | 1 | Entertainment Avenue | ||
| Elvis | $500,000 | -55% | 1,104 | -327 | $453 | $150,287,493 | 12 | Warner Bros. |
| Honk for Jesus. Save your soul. | $365,000 | -74% | 1,870 | -12 | $195 | $2,399,225 | 2 | Focus characteristics |
| Orphan: first murder | $300,000 | -59% | 428 | -101 | $701 | $5,083,460 | 4 | Primordial |
| Breakup | $225,754 | -66% | 616 | -293 | $366 | $2,646,465 | 3 | Bleecker Street |
| Jurassic World: Dominion | $157,000 | -67% | 448 | -322 | $350 | $375,859,130 | 14 | Universal |
| To fall | $155,000 | -46% | 267 | -151 | $581 | $6,708,832 | 5 | Lions Gate |
| Mrs. Harris goes to Paris | $112,000 | -26% | 341 | 74 | $328 | $10,166,715 | 9 | Focus characteristics |
| The black phone | $101,000 | -59% | 185 | -68 | $546 | $89,751,845 | 12 | Universal |
| Unfavorable odds | $58,184 | 445 | $131 | $58,184 | 1 | Atlas distribution | ||
| Easter Sunday | $50,000 | -71% | 135 | -196 | $370 | $12,970,050 | 6 | Universal |
| hockeyland | $49,500 | 64 | $773 | $49,500 | 1 | Greenwich | ||
| Hug me tight | $15,051 | 5 | $3,010 | $15,051 | 1 | Kino Lorber |