‘Fast X’ sputters with $67.5M opening weekend

Hello! Welcome to The Box Office Report for the weekend of May 19-21, 2023.

1. Fast X

Weekend gross: $67.5M
Total domestic gross: $67.5M
Last weekend: New release
Percent drop: NA

Is the Fast & Furious franchise running out of gas?

After hitting $86.2 million, $97.3 million, $147.2 million and $98.8 million debuts with Fast Five, Fast and Furious 6, Furious 7 and The Fate of the Furious, the franchise took a noticeable step back when Hobbes & Shaw opened with just $60 million. F9: The Fast Saga debuted with $70 million in 2021, which easily could’ve been attributed to people still coming back to movie theaters after the pandemic.

It was on Fast X to prove that this franchise still had the juice to be considered in the same breath as the Marvel Cinematic Universe when it came to box office performance.

A $67.5 million opening weekend isn’t bad. But it’s less than half of what Furious 7 opened with in 2015.

Are audiences tired of the Fast & Furious movies? Did they fly too close to the sun with their increasingly outlandish plots and now find themselves with nowhere to go?

There’s at least one more movie left in the this franchise (possibly two, if Vin Diesel gets his way). Can these final installments right the franchise’s box office performance? Or should we expect to see Fast X: Part Three close out the franchise by matching the original film’s $40 million opening weekend?

2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Weekend gross: $32M
Total domestic gross: $266.5M
Last weekend: 2nd
Percent drop: 48

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 continues to perform well. The movie matched its second-weekend drop this weekend, falling 48 percent again. The third film in the franchise hasn’t yet outgrossed either of its predecessors on the domestic or worldwide charts, but Vol. 3 is still clocking ahead of the original Guardians of the Galaxy.

Despite Vol. 3 falling to No. 2 this weekend, Diesel had his third weekend in a row at No. 1. This is after Chris Pratt scored six No. 1 weekends in a row thanks to The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Now I need to check The Little Mermaid’s cast list to see if anyone can keep this streak going next weekend …

3. The Super Mario Bros. Movie

Weekend gross: $9.8M
Total domestic gross: $549.3M
Last weekend: 2nd
Percent drop: 22

Can The Super Mario Bros. Movie crack $600 million at the domestic box office? That’s really the final challenge left for this movie on that chart. Mario passed The Lion King (the “live-action” one, that is) this weekend to move up to No. 14 on the domestic chart. The next target would be Incredibles 2 and its $608.6 million domestic haul.

On the worldwide chart, though, Incredibles 2 should be an easy film for Mario to skip by. Mario currently stands at $1,238,744,250 to Incredibles 2’s $1,242,805,359.

4. Book Club: The Next Chapter

Weekend gross: $3M
Total domestic gross: $13.1M
Last weekend: 3rd
Percent drop: 55

It’s weird to be talking about Book Club: The Next Chapter in terms of franchise performance, but the sequel is basically dead on arrival compared to 2018’s Book Club. Through two weekends, The Next Chapter has grossed $13.1 million in North America. The first Book Club opened with $13.6 million domestically on its way to a $106.3 million worldwide gross.

5. Evil Dead Rise

Weekend gross: $2.4M
Total domestic gross: $65.1M
Last weekend: 4th
Percent drop: 36

I didn’t realize until recently that Evil Dead Rise was originally supposed to be an HBO Max release. By switching gears, Warner Bros. Discovery now has a movie that has grossed $141.1 million worldwide on its hands.

Box office numbers via The Numbers based on Sunday estimates.

Next weekend

The big questions next weekend: How much will the live-action Little Mermaid open with? And how far will Fast X fall? Aladdin and The Lion King, the last two major Disney remakes released before the pandemic hit, opened with $91.5 million and $191.8 million.