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"Bullet Train" is trying to prove that an
action flick that isn't based on a comic book or a toy-line can
defy the odds and resonate with audiences. But part of the issue
for the film is that critics weren't on board. "Bullet Train"
landed a mediocre 41% approval rating on review-aggregation
website Rotten Tomatoes, with many reviewers faulting the movie
for being overly derivative of the work of Guy Ritchie and
Quentin Tarantino. Variety chief film critic Peter Debruge was
mixed on "Bullet Train," writing that "neither the characters
nor the film they inhabit are particularly deep."
"Bullet Train" was directed by David Leitch, who once served as
a stunt double for Pitt before moving on to oversee the likes of
"Atomic Blonde" and "Deadpool 2." It centers on a hapless hitman
whose mission to nab a suitcase full of cash on high-speed train
in Japan, devolves into double crosses and brutal fights with an
army of competing killers, thieves and social deviants.
Universal and Amblin's "Easter Sunday," the weekend's other
major release, stumbled in its opening frame, earning a meagre
$5.3 million for an eighth place finish on domestic charts.
"Easter Sunday" stars stand-up comic Jo Koy as an actor who
attends his dysfunctional Filipino American family's Easter
Sunday celebration. The good news for Universal and Amblin is
"Easter Sunday" was a modest bet, carrying a price tag of $17
million.
"DC League of Super-Pets," an animated offering from Warner
Bros., nabbed second place with $11.2 million. After two weeks,
"Super-Pets" boasts a domestic gross of $45.1 million, a
disappointing result given its $90 million production budget.
Under its new corporate owner, Warner Bros. Discovery is looking
to shake up its cinematic universe of DC Comics characters, a
change of course that resulted in the company's controversial
decision this week to scrap "Batgirl" after the movie had been
completed. Instead of debuting on HBO Max as originally planned
or being retro-fitted for a theatrical run, the film will now
become a tax write-down.
Universal's "Nope" came in third with $8.5 million. That brings
the twisty UFO thriller from Jordan Peele to $97.9 million at
the domestic box office, an impressive result for a movie that,
like "Bullet Train," wasn't derived from some preexisting piece
of IP. Disney and Marvel's "Thor: Love and Thunder" and
Universal and Illumination's "Minions: Rise of Gru" rounded out
the top five, earning $7.6 million and $7.1 million,
respectively. That brings the Thor sequel's stateside total to
$316.1 million, while the "Despicable Me" spinoff has now earned
$334.6 million domestically.
In limited release, "Bodies Bodies Bodies" grossed $226,526 on 6
screens in New York and Los Angeles, which came out to a $37,754
per-screen average. The A24 horror film follows a group of rich
20-somethings at a hurricane party at a remote family mansion
that becomes the locus of a lot of blood-letting. The ensemble
cast features former "SNL" star Pete Davidson, "The Hate U
Give's" Amandla Stenberg and "Borat 2" breakout Maria Bakalova.
On the milestone front, Paramount's "Top Gun: Maverick"
supplanted "Titanic" as the seventh-biggest film ever at the
domestic box office, earning $662 million in ticket sales. The
sequel, now in its eleventh week of release, added $7 million to
its total.
The domestic box office has experienced an impressive rebound in
recent months; it's a resurgence fueled by hits such as "Top
Gun: Maverick" and "Jurassic World: Dominion." The bad news for
theaters is that "Bullet Train" is the last big-budget, major
studio film this summer and there's about the be a veritable
desert when it comes to populist fare. Studio executives and
theater owners privately say that there won't be another
blockbuster until "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" opens on Nov.
11. That's a long time to wait, particularly for an exhibition
industry that's still trying to shake off the lingering impact
of COVID closures and diminished attendance.
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