- Off-screen drama didn't keep the weekend box office from rebounding somewhat from a recent slump, pulling off the best weekend in more than a month with some stronger-than-expected rollouts to bridge the gap to October releases.
- Behind-the-scenes tabloid fodder notwithstanding, 1950's psychological drama Don't Worry Darling (NASDAQ:WBD) opened to $19.2M, the best debut total in five weekends and to the high side of its projections, despite some lackluster reviews from critics and audiences.
- Meanwhile, Disney (NYSE:DIS) has to be encouraged ahead of December's sequel Avatar: The Way of Water - after the original 2009 Avatar spent this weekend in re-release, and hit double-digits. The 13-year-old film (still the all-time worldwide box-office champ) drew $10M from just 1,860 theaters (most of which were IMAX (IMAX) venues).
- Don't Worry Darling (WBD) added another $10.8M overseas to hit a total of $30M worldwide. The Avatar re-release added another $20.5M internationally over the weekend, meaning it too surpassed $30M globally. (Avatar is No. 4 on the all-time domestic chart with $770.5M, and the all-time global leader at $2.878B.)
- For the weekend, Avatar fell in just behind the sophomore outing from The Woman King (NYSE:SONY), which grossed $11.1M to bring its domestic cumulative total to $36.3M. No. 4 on the list was Airbnb-themed horror film Barbarian (DIS), with $4.8M in its third week.
- Cinema tickers: AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC); Cineworld; Cinemark (CNK); (IMAX); Marcus (MCS); Reading International (RDI); Cineplex (CGX:CA); National CineMedia (NCMI).
- AMC stock (AMC) spent its Monday sliding by double digits, though that wasn't related to the strong box office but rather to machinations with its preferred equity units.