This weekend saw three new wide movie releases in US cinemas, but there was a clear standout, with Ford v Ferrari outperforming expectations and comfortably topping the charts. The dramatization of Ford Motor Company’s 1966 quest to build a car capable of beating Ferrari at Le Mans ’66, which was directed by James Mangold (Logan) and stars Matt Damon and Christian Bale, brought in $31 million over the weekend according to Box Office Mojo.
This is well above Box Office Mojo’s pre-weekend projection of $22 million, and the film has earned strong reviews and excellent word of mouth, including a rare A+ Cinemascore from attendees. The movie carries a $100 million budget, but this is still a strong start (the film also made $21.4 million internationally), and there’s a good chance of the movie performing well over the weeks ahead, especially if it gets award buzz.
Charlie’s Angels got off to a considerable weaker start. The new movie, directed by Elizabeth Banks and starring Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott and Ella Balinska as the eponymous Angels, was third at the box office (below last week‘s Midway). It opened to $8.6 million, well below expectations, and much less than the 2000 iteration of Charlie’s Angels (which opened to $40,128,550) and its sequel, Charlie’s Angels Full Throttle ($37,634,221). It’s not all bad, though–the movie picked up $19.3 million outside of America, and was made on a fairly modest $48 million budget.
The other new wide release opening this weekend, The Good Liar, brought in $5,656,000. This is a low result, but the film was made on a budget of just $10 million. Elsewhere in the charts, Doctor Sleep dropped to 6th place with $6,181,000, meaning that it’s still on track to lose money. Joker crossed the $1 billion mark internationally, making it one of the most profitable films of all time. Terminator: Dark Fate slipped out of the top ten, earning $4,375,000, and Waves, the new film from Trey Edward Shults (It Comes At Night), opened to $144,562 on just four screens.
Here’s the domestic top ten for this weekend, or you can view the full chart at Box Office Mojo.
1. Ford v Ferrari: $31.037 million
2. Midway: $8.75 million
3. Charlie’s Angels: $8.6 million
4. Playing with Fire: $8.55 million
5. Last Christmas: $6.7 million
6. Doctor Sleep: $6.181 million
7. The Good Liar: $5.656 million
8. Joker: $5.635 million
9. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil: $5.247 million
10. Harriet: $4.780 million
