Death draws a crowd. Warner Bros. and New Line’s “Final Destination Bloodlines” is fated for a franchise-best opening after scoring $21 million across Friday and preview screenings from 3,523 locations. Meanwhile, the Weeknd‘s pop-star psychological thriller “Hurry Up Tomorrow” is headed for a low opening after earning just $2.33 million across its opening day and fan event previews.
For “Final Destination,” the horror property’s latest entry — its sixth — easily outperformed the property’s prior best opening day, held by the fourth installment “The Final Destination.” That film was released in 2009, at the start of theaters’ brief 3D craze, and enjoyed a series-best opening of $27.4 million — a figure that the R-rated “Bloodlines” will blow past on Saturday. It gets a boost from luxury ticket prices, too, playing Imax and premium large-format auditoriums.
That’s a true show of strength for “Final Destination” as a property, which has been dormant since the fifth installment released in 2011. Launched in 2000, the morbid series follows groups of people getting Rube Goldberg machine’d to death by unforeseen domino effects — a timeless concept if there ever was one. This new entry, directed by Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky, scored franchise-best reviews from critics (the horror genre is hardly the critical punching bag it once was in the aughts). Audiences are enjoying the ride too, with moviegoer survey firm Cinema Score polling a “B+” grade among ticketbuyers. Those positive notices are auspicious and, at a production cost of $50 million, “Final Destination Bloodlines” is in a terrific position to spin some success in theaters. The franchise has always been a strong presence overseas, too, and “Bloodlines” has grossed $26.4 million internationally, so far.
Meanwhile, Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye’s surrealist self-portrait vehicle “Hurry Up Tomorrow” is bowed in 2,020 locations. Lionsgate did not finance the R-rated film, and is instead handling distribution in exchange for a fee. The fantasia, directed by former A24 staple Trey Edward Shults and co-starring Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan, cost $15 million. Republic Records, Manic Phase Productions, Live Nation and CAA were all involved in the film, a visual companion to the pop star’s most recent studio album of the same name, which Tesfaye added to his repertoire for his ongoing After Hours Til Dawn global tour.
That popularity as a live act is not translating to movie theaters. “Hurry Up Tomorrow” seems unlikely to debut in the top-five of domestic charts, and is on track for a three-day take of less than $3.6 million. The release comes about two years after the Weeknd debuted his and Sam Levinson’s HBO limited series “The Idol” at Cannes Film Festival, where it earned a reputation that could be most generously described as “controversial.” “Hurry Up Tomorrow” falls into that mold. The film performed terribly with critics, resulting in a glum “C-” Cinema Score grade. An extended theatrical run seems unlikely.
In addition to topping the charts, Warner Bros. also has the edge for second place bragging rights with “Sinners,” which is still drawing a crowd in its fifth weekend of release. Ryan Coogler’s acclaimed vampire feature passed Marvel’s “Thunderbolts*” on Friday, earning another $4.35 million. Notably, “Sinners” has regained select Imax auditoriums for one more week of 70mm showtimes.
On Saturday, “Sinners” will pass 1984’s “Beverly Hills Cop” ($234 million) to become the 12th-highest-grossing R-rated domestic release of all-time. The three-day frame should end with it north of $240 million. There hasn’t been a bigger original live-action film in North America since Alfonso Cuarón’s 2013 survival thriller “Gravity” finished with $274 million. Can “Sinners” leg out long enough to take the record?
Disney’s “Thunderbolts*” isn’t far behind, earning another $4.2 million on Friday, about 53% down from its daily total last week. The Marvel Studios production is expected to reach about $154 million domestic through this third weekend of release. So far the positive reception has given “Thunderbolts*” stronger staying power than its MCU predecessor, the February release of “Captain America: Brave New World.” But it now stands to fall behind “Sinners” on the charts and it’ll be curious what momentum it can maintain as competitors like “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” and fellow Disney release “Lilo & Stitch” launch next week.
In fourth, Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment’s “A Minecraft Movie” is still stacking blocks in its seventh weekend of release. The adaptation of Mojang’s video game juggernaut, now available on premium video-on-demand, added another $1.3 million on Friday, down 30% from its daily total last week. This weekend, it will pass 1993’s “Jurassic Park” ($415 million) to crack the domestic box office’s all-time top 40.
Rounding out the top five, Amazon MGM’s “The Accountant 2” added $1.2 million on Friday. Now in its fourth weekend, the Ben Affleck action sequel is headed toward a $4.5 million frame, pushing its domestic total north of $58 million. It’s unlikely to outgross the original 2016 “Accountant,” pacing about 18% behind now in North America, despite having a much higher production cost.
