This past weekend saw a variety of new movies enter theaters nationwide, including a light-hearted trip to Italy with Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, Diane Keaton, and Mary Steenburgen, as well as a Ben Affleck-fronted detective thriller. Despite the influx of new releases, the top two spots were once again claimed by Marvel and Mario. In its second weekend, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” added $60.5 million from North American theaters, with a slim 49% drop from its opening weekend, which is rare for big superhero films. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” took second place with $13 million in its sixth weekend, with its continued dominance due to families with younger children having almost no other options at the theaters.
Among the new releases, “Book Club: The Next Chapter” fared the best on the charts, grossing $6.5 million from 3,508 locations. The sequel, released by Focus Features on Mother’s Day weekend, had a heavily female (77%), Caucasian (59%), and over 45 (66%) audience. Robert Rodriguez’s “Hypnotic” is not performing well, with poor reviews and limited marketing from distributor Ketchup Entertainment, earning just $2.4 million from 2,118 locations. Other mid-level releases, including Charlie Day’s Hollywood satire “Fool’s Paradise” and the anime-inspired “Knights of the Zodiac,” failed to make a significant impact.
Several independent films thrived this weekend with solid per theater averages, including IFC’s “Monica” and Bleecker Street’s “The Starling Girl.” On home screens, there was competition from a Michael J. Fox documentary on Apple TV+ and the Jennifer Lopez action pic “The Mother” on Netflix. “Air,” which is still in the top 10 after six weekends in theaters, also made its debut on Prime Video.
Next weekend is expected to see a considerable pick-up in the box office race with “Fast X” entering the market, followed by the live-action “The Little Mermaid” on May 26. Overall, moviegoers have a lot to choose from right now, according to senior media analyst for Comscore, Paul Dergarabedian.