This week’s new releases basically came down to a showdown between a bear and Jesus, with the amped-up furball coming out on top in the fight for second and third place.
“Cocaine Bear” is on course to open to an estimated $21.21 million for the three-day weekend – ahead of expectations following its opening day gross of $8.7 million. It opened overseas in fifty markets where it is expected to bring in $5 million.
Critics reviews have been softly positive, and the B- Cinemascore from audience exit polls isn’t promising for its longevity but is par for the course when it comes to horror-themed films.
It went up against “Jesus Revolution,” Lionsgate’s faith-based feature which pulled in a robust $6.95 million Friday and is expected to pull in as much as $14-15 million this weekend. The 1970s-set feature is inspired by true events centers on a revivalist Christian movement that swept America.
A film’s CinemaScore is seen as a measure of audience expectations being met than actual quality, which is why a lot of faith-based titles (and Tyler Perry movies) often score very high despite mixed critical reviews. That’s true again here with “Jesus Revolution” landing just 56% on Rotten Tomatoes, but pulling in a rare A+ CinemaScore.
Both are set to come in behind Marvel Studios’ “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” which is on track to fall 71.6% to $30 million in its second-weekend outing.
That puts it in danger of suffering not just the worst second-weekend decline ever for a Hollywood superhero pic opening to $100 million or more domestically, but one of the worst for any movie on record.
“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” saw the biggest second-weekend drop of any $100M+ opening superhero film at 69.1%, whilst Marvel Studios’ biggest decline to date was “Thor: Love and Thunder” at 67.7%.
The largest drop of any film with $100 million or more was the final “Harry Potter” feature which fell 72% in its second weekend because in part its opening weekend was so large – that’s not the case here.
Source: THR
