Box Office Report: 'The Invitation' Takes Top Spot in One of 2022's Worst Weekends

By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | August 29, 2022 |

By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | August 29, 2022 |

Oof, it was a tough weekend at the box office. One of the worst for 2022 so far, in fact. Expectations for this weekend were low, but that drop from the previous week is still harsh, especially with Hollywood fully acting as though COVID doesn’t exist anymore. This was the year’s third lowest grossing at the box office, even with two major releases. Granted, neither movie was a big IP or one with a massive amount of marketing around it. One was poorly reviewed and the other seemed primed to flop on release and become a cult film in like four or five years time. This became the first weekend since May 2021 where no film grossed over $10 million.

Vampire thriller The Invitation was this past weekend’s winner, so to speak, making $7 million from 3,114 theaters. That’s the lowest first-place debut since, yikes, Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star in 2003. Reviews were bad but hey, vampires.

Way down in number seven (ouch) is Three Thousand Years of Longing, directed by George Miller. The romantic fantasy only made $2.876 million from 2,436 theaters. Reviews were mixed but leaned towards positive and those trailers were stunning, but as many people informed me, they saw next to no promotion for this one, despite it having two major stars in the leads and the director of Mad Max: Fury Road at the helm. The budget wasn’t high — about $60 million — but relative to that, this weekend gross is one of the year’s worst. To show just how badly it did, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero made $4.56 million in its second week of release, even with a 78% drop from its opening.

For some reason, Disney put Rogue One back in 255 theaters for the weekend and made $1.1 million. Hey, there wasn’t anything else screening so why not?

Debuting at number 15 is John Boyega’s Breaking, a thriller with zero electric boogaloos in it, with $1.02 million from 902 theaters. At number 30 is The Good Boss, a Spanish film starring Javier Bardem that was a huge hit in its home country. From only 13 venues, it grossed a solid $26,627, which gave it a higher per-screen average than Three Thousand Years of Longing.

This coming week sees the release of Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul., the big-screen re-release of Jaws, and, uh… Spider-Man: No Way Home. The 2022 re-release. Of a 2021 film. Because it didn’t make enough money the first time, I suppose?

You can check out the rest of the weekend box office here.