Millennium Media and Lionsgate’s Expendables 4 was the only new wide release Thursday night, seeing $750K in previews that began at 6 p.m..
The Sylvester Stallone–Jason Statham fourthquel is only expected to make between $15M-$17M. If the movie bests the opening weekend of 2014’s The Expendables 3 ($15.8M), then Lionsgate will be happy. The fourth movie is playing at 3,518 locations, including 900 PLF screens comprising XD, RPX, Dolby, 4DX and D-box. Lionsgate has UK in addition to U.S. on the Scott Waugh-directed action movie.
That figure is under the preview take of Expendables 3, which did $875K off showtimes that began at 8 p.m. Ouch. Expendables 4‘s Thursday is a tad higher than that of Gerard Butler’s Plane from Lionsgate, which did $625K and opened to $10.2M in Janaury. At the same time, Expendables 4‘s previews are a far cry from Stallone’s 2019 pre-pandemic Rambo: Last Blood aka Rambo 5, which did $1.3M off 7 p.m. showtimes, resulting in a $18.8M opening.
The latest installment is the worst-reviewed on Rotten Tomatoes at 14% rotten, not that this franchise was ever a critical darling. However, the Stallone-Statham series generally has done quite well with moviegoers, the first movie earning a B+ Cinemascore, with parts 2 and 3 each earning an A-. Interestingly enough, the second movie back in 2012 had the best reviews among RT critics at 67%, while the 2010 original was 41% rotten and Part 3 was 31% rotten.
After last weekend was the second-lowest of 2023 for the overall domestic box office at $62.8M, this weekend isn’t bound to be any better. Expect more or less the same, or worse. Trying to give the marketplace a spike are 300 Imax locations of A24’s rerelease of Talking Heads’ 1984 concert film Stop Making Sense as well as Barbie making her debut in that large format exhibitor’s auditoriums.
The rest on Thursday and for the week:
New Line’s The Nun 2 ends her second week with $19M at 3,743 theaters and a $60M running total after a $925K Thursday, -8% from Wednesday.
20th Century Studios/Disney’s A Haunting in Venice came in second on Thursday with an estimated $804K, -22% for a first-week take of $19M at 3,305 theaters.
Sony’s The Equalizer 3 at 3,528 saw a third week of $10M, a $584K Thursday, -10% and a running total of $76.5M. That’s 9% behind Equalizer 2 at the same point in time which ended its 2018 run at $102M, and it’s also 9% behind the 2014 first film, which wound up with $101.5M domestic.
Focus Features’ second week of My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 earned $6.9M for a $20.8M running total. Thursday was $419K, -11% from Wednesday at 3,678.
Warner Bros. Barbie, before her Imax-loaded 10th weekend, saw a ninth week of $5.1M at 3,012 theaters, after a Thursday of $315K, +10% from Wednesday for a running cume of $627.2M. She’ll likely sit as the 11th-highest-grossing movie at the domestic box office: the No. 10 pic, Universal’s Jurassic World, stands at $653.4M. The new Imax release this week includes a new fresh post-end credits sequence.