Just days after Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos boldly told TIME that the theatrical release model is "outdated" and stated on behalf of film lovers that "
Just days after Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos boldly told TIME that the theatrical release model is “outdated” and stated on behalf of film lovers that “they’d like to see movies at home, thank you,” this weekend’s box office figures tell a very different story about the vitality of the bricks-and-mortar cinema experience. In the best end-of-April weekend cinemas have seen post-COVID, Ryan Coogler’s audacious vampire-musical-thriller Sinners and the 20th anniversary re-release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith have led the charge, with the former taking another $45 million bite out of the domestic box office to bring its running total to $161.6 million worldwide, and the latter feeling the Force with fans to the tune of $42.2 million globally.
To put these figures (courtesy of Deadline and Disney) into context, Sinners‘ chart-topping second weekend saw Coogler’s massive genre swing — a word-of-mouth phenomenon that’s captured the minds of critics and cinemagoers alike — experience an almost unheard of just 6% drop in box office takings compared to opening weekend. It’s a hell of a feat for an original, r-rated feature, and represents the second smallest second-weekend drop for a $40m+ opening release since James Cameron’s Avatar in 2009. And again, it bears noting that Sinners isn’t a franchise film and it isn’t being released during holiday season as Avatar was: it’s a movie made by a filmmaker who specifically wants you to see his film on the large screen — and that passion has clearly been rewarded and then some by film fans.
As for Revenge Of The Sith, back in cinemas balmy on the heels of Star Wars Celebration Japan (and at what feels like the apex of Prequel Trilogy rehabilitation), the movie’s re-release has surpassed all expectations, beating out the likes of The Accountant 2 and A Minecraft Movie to remind us of the unlimited box office power of Star Wars. Its $42.2 million showing worldwide makes it the third biggest theatrical re-release of all time, behind only George Lucas’ own Star Wars in 1997 and Disney’s The Lion King in 2011, and takes the film’s lifetime cume to just shy of $900 million. Despite it having been six years almost since the last large screen Star War, the Force clearly remains forceful with the franchise at the multiplex as The Mandalorian & Grogu‘s 22 May, 2026 release inches ever closer.
With an original up-to-date feature and a beloved, auteur-driven franchise classic sitting atop this weekend’s box office, the aforementioned The Accountant 2 and A Minecraft Movie pulling in solid $20m+ takings, and game-based slasher Until Dawn enjoying modest success as it took $18 million on its frugal $15 million budget, it would appear that reports of the theatrical experience’s death have been greatly exaggerated. And as Thunderbolts*, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, Lilo & Stitch, Karate Kid: Legends, and Final Destination Bloodlines all ready up for release in May, there’s no sign of the cinemagoing slowing anytime soon. Viva la Tango Ice Blasts! Viva la awkwardly shuffling down the aisle to sit dead centre, middle row! Viva la cinéma! (Also, if Warner Bros. and Disney want to team up and make a double-feature happen, Revenge Of The Sinners is right there…)
COMMENTS