‘Thunderbolts*’ Simmers $33M 2nd Frame; ‘Sinners’ Strong $21M 4th Weekend; Making Sense Of Single Digit Bows ‘Clown’, ‘Shadow Force’ & ‘Fight Or Flight’ – Box Office Update

UPDATED, SUNDAY AM WRITETHRU after previous Friday and Saturday updates: Disney/Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts* is lower than expected with a $33M second weekend, but still a great hold for an MCU title, -55%, which isn’t that far from Shang-Chi‘s -54% and certainly better than Captain America: Brave New World‘s -68%. The Florence Pugh, Wyatt Russell, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Hannah John-Kamen Marvel ensemble currently stands at $128.4M, which is $12.7M behind Captain America Brave New World through ten days, however, it feels like, particularly with Memorial Day weekend coming up, and the summer moviegoing of it all that this MCU title can catapult past that pic’s $200.7M final. Thunderbolts* is $10.3M ahead of Eternals at the ten-day point which ended its run at $164.8M. Remember, Disney movies have long theatrical windows. Deadpool & Wolverine had a 67-day window to PVOD. .

Because Thunderbolts* and the Warner titles lost a tad bit of steam in comparison to what we were seeing earlier this weekend, the entire marketplace is now looking to do an estimated $86.7M, which is -10% from a year ago, that frame boosted by Disney/20th Century Studios’ opening of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes with $58.4M.

After a $6.6M fourth Friday, Warner Bros’ Sinners, is heading to $21.1M in its fourth weekend. How does it stack up to other fourth weekends for horror films? It’s head of the fourth weekends of Sixth Sense ($20M) and It‘s ($16.9M). Sinners is behind Blair Witch Project‘s fourth weekend of $24.3M, but that’s a bit of apples to oranges as it was technically the second wide weekend for the found-footage movie, which had a two-weekend platform. Interestingly, Sinners isn’t that far from the fourth weekend of A Minecraft Movie ($22.7M).

I’m not one to celebrate single digit million openings, and quite frankly there were a ton this weekend among the new stuff. If you’re in the single digits during a competitive summer period, it’s really hard to hold screens against the magilla movies. However, not everybody is on equal measuring stick. While saying that, these companies that make a business out of single digit openings, are still around, or at least in the case of IFC and Vertical, they’re going wider nowadays given the low virtual print fees and keeping their P&A down. Scroll down to see our assessment.

Chart is updating…Sunday numbers indicated by bolded figures.

1.) Thunderbolts* (Dis) 4,330 theaters, Fri $9M, 3-day $33M (-53%), Total $128.4M/Wk 2

2.) Sinners (WB) 3,502 theaters, Fri $6.5M (-32%), 3-day $21.1M (-36%), Total $214.4M/Wk 4

3.) A Minecraft Movie (WB) 3,468 theaters, Fri $1.9M, 3-day $7.95M (-42%), Total $408.9M/Wk 6

4.) Accountant 2 (AMZ) 3,402 (-208) theaters, Fri $1.67M (-36%) Sat $2.6M Sun $1.82M, 3-day $6.1M (-36%) Total $50.89M/Wk 3

5.) Clown in a Cornfield (IFC) 2,277 theaters, Fri $1.69M, 3-day $3.6M/Wk 1
IFC is in the business of margins with low single digit P&A, very low acquisition costs next to the competition, ownership of their downstream windows Shudder streaming service and IFC channel. Clown in a Cornfield stands as the biggest opening in the distributor’s history (not counting Fahrenheit 9/11 at $23.9M which Lionsgate released theatrically), ahead of 2024’s Late Night With the Devil at $2.8M. That movie made it to $10M, and Clown will best Satan. As such, this opening is a big deal for the label as they rebranded under the newly defined IFC Entertainment Group, not to mention they’ve been venturing into horror wide releases in an effort to have some ownership of the space. They aren’t looking to lose their shirts. Essentially their overhead on the movie is significantly less than Lionsgate’s with Shadow Force (read below).

Clown blasted off at SXSW with a world premiere. There were stunts with Frendo the Clown reading at the NY Public Library, and driving a semi-truck cross country with pitstops such as the creepy clown hotel in Tonopah, Neveda; the LA County Fair in Pomona and the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Denver, CO to name a few. The movie also hit drive-aways last weekend in an early debut.

Clown, a RLJE/Shudder title, gets a C+ Cinemascore, which is average for a horror movie with a 44% definite recommend on PostTrak. Mostly guys at 56% with the 25-34 demo the best at 38%. Those under 35 were 73% and the hope is that there’s some sort of buzz among the young set to get this to a 3.5x multiple. Best areas for business –again not to use that word in strongly– were South Central, Midwest, Mountain and West. AMC Grove is the top grossing venue stateside with just over $16K through Saturday.

“To say we are thrilled with the tremendous response to Eli Craig’s witty and playful adaptation of Adam Cesare’s chart-topping novel would be an understatement,” said Head of IFC Entertainment Group’s Scott Shooman.  “This success is the result of great storytelling, tireless work from the entire team at IFC Entertainment Group, and is a huge win for our RLJE division.  Thanks to the guidance of Mark Ward, RLJE’s Chief Acquisition Officer, Clown in a Cornfield has become its largest theatrical grosser ever as well as the biggest box office opening weekend for our company.  This speaks volumes to how the IFC Entertainment Group synergistically operates and how our brands are growing – aiming to deliver unique genre leaning titles with mass appeal.”

6.) Shadow Force (LG) 2,170 theaters, Fri $730K, Sat $735K Sun $550K 3-day $2.015M/Wk 1
This was not a win for Lionsgate with a $40M production cost, and as we mentioned before, this meat and potatoes action title, which is the studio’s forte, was greenlit under the Joe Drake administration. As critics have pointed out, it looks like it’s made for streaming. But then why do Mark Wahlberg, Gerard Butler and Jason Statham movies do substantially better theatrically? Because those action film stars have a notable following and unfortunately Kerry Washington and Omar Sy do not. Not to mention, what sounds like an R-rated version of Spy Kids is not novel or high concept enough to put people in seats. Foreign sales covered two-third of the budget. Loss is expected to be around $10M. CinemaScore is a B. 54% definite recommend on PostTrak, which isn’t shabby, but nobody is coming. We’ll have more on this later this weekend as to what went sideways here. Business is light with the pic’s best regions being the South, East, South Central and Midwest. AMC Garden State is the best location stateside with close to $17k through Saturday. Mostly men at 52%, with Black moviegoers leading at 35%, then Caucasian at 34%, 22% Latino and Hispanic, and 6% Asian. The over 35 set is the best demo for the pic at 63%.

7) Fight or Flight (Vert) 2,153 theaters, Fri $1M, 3-day $2.001M/Wk 1
Not a lot of data here on Fight or Flight, only that Vertical picked up North American, meaning it wasn’t a service deal. It is one of their higher openings behind The Exorcism‘s $2.4M start. Vertical wants to be taken more seriously in the wide release specialty business; they’re handling Ron Howard’s period all-star thriller with Sydney Sweeney, Ana de Armas, Vanessa Kirby and Jude Law later this summer. C+ CinemaScore. 48% definite recommend on PostTrak, which is OK, but the second best of the new bunch here this weekend. Men attended at 65%. Over 35 are showing up at 58%. 51% Caucasian, 23% Latino and Hispanic, 11% Black, and 9% Asian. Best areas of play are Midwest, Mountain and West with AMC Century City the best venue with close to $6K through yesterday.

There are myriad indie labels which open movies wide to $2M-$4M only to propel pics into the downstream window, and they live to fight another day. Time will only tell if the margin business isn’t working for any of these distributors. What’s absolutely clear is that theatrical is an advertisement for the home window.

8.) Until Dawn (Sony) 2,465 (-590) theaters, Fri $610K, Sat $835K Sun $555K , 3-day $2M (-46%), Total $18M/Wk 3

9.) The Amateur (20th) 1,200 (-935) theaters, Fri $278K (-49%) Sat $448K Sun $374K 3-day $1.1M (-42%), Total $38.95M/Wk 5

10.) King of Kings (Angel) 1,089 (-946) theaters, Fri $143K Sat $313K Sun $223K day $680K (-60%), Total $59M/Wk 5

Notables:

Friendship (A24) 6 theaters, Fri $227K, Sat $124K Sun $99.7K 3-day $451,9K, PTA $75,3K/Wk 1
Excellent limited start with strong business at AMC Lincoln Square NYC, Angelika NY, AMC Burbank, AMC Grove, AMC Century City and the Vista in LA (where do you park when you go there?). It’s pretty much official, this is the best opening theater average of 2025 to date.

Juliet & Romeo (BCF) 1,350 theaters, Fri $100K, 3-day $350K/Wk 1

Remember, there are bigger events to come at the summer B.O.

PREVIOUSLY, FRIDAY AM: Disney and Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts* will continue to storm the weekend box office in its second session with an estimated $30 million, off 60% or less from its debut frame. The Jake Schreier-directed movie will cross the century mark Friday stateside in a weekend that’s littered with a bunch of single-digit-million openers. Summer competition doesn’t start until next weekend, when New Line’s Final Destination: Bloodlines will debut to a projected $30M-$40M. Thunderbolts* will have all the Imax and PLFs this weekend.

Warner Bros’ Sinners is not going to hell at the box office, but rather continues skyward ending week 3 with $46.6M and a running total of $193.3M. The Ryan Coogler-directed, Michael B. Jordan-starring vampire movie is crossing $200M today with a fourth weekend that’s expected to be potent with $23M-$25M, -30%, per industry forecasts. Sinners will have Imax 70MM auditoriums May 15-21.

Warner Bros/Legendary’s A Minecraft Movie is looking to ease another 35%-40% in weekend 6 with around $8M after a week 5 of $16.5M and running total of $401M as of yesterday.

Amazon MGM Studios’ The Accountant 2 ends its second week with $13.1M and a running total of $44.7M.

In regards to the rest, the one movie expected to pop is IFC’s Clown in the Cornfield at 2,277 screens, looking at around $5M. Critics love the movie at 80% fresh in the wake of its SXSW premiere in March. The Eli Craig-directed title is set in a fading midwestern town in which Frendo the clown, a symbol of bygone success, reemerges as a terrifying scourge. We just heard the movie did $600,000 previews.

Lionsgate’s Kerry Washington and Omar Sy action movie Shadow Force is eyeing $3M-$4M at 2,170 screens. The movie was greenlit during the Joe Drake administration at the studio. Critics aren’t hot on it with 50% Rotten. Last night’s previews were $200K. In Shadow Force, an estranged couple with a bounty on their heads must go on the run with their son to avoid their former employer, a unit of shadow ops that has been sent to kill them.

Vertical is excited about its airplane action movie Fight or Flight, which carries a 78% fresh with both critics and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. The Josh Hartnett-starring, James Madigan-directed pic has the best previews of anyone with $550K, and that’s from last night and Monday Mystery screenings. Outlook is $2.5M. Out of the new movies tracked on PostTrak last night, Fight or Flight had the best scores with a 49% definite recommend and 3 stars. Pic’s blurb: A mercenary takes on the job of tracking down a target on a plane but must protect her when they’re surrounded by people trying to kill both of them.

Briarcliff Entertainment has Juliet & Romeo at 1,350 theaters and it stars Jason Isaacs, Rupert Graves and Rebel Wilson. The Timothy Scott Bogart pop musical movie is based on William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. It’s looking to do around $1M.