Box Office Report: Juicy Beetles

By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | September 23, 2024 |

By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | September 23, 2024 |

For a while, Transformers movies were a safe box office bet. The tyranny of Michael Bay was commercial gold, even as we all complained that nobody liked those films. The numbers haven’t been as strong with more recent works, even if they’ve received warmer critical responses. Now, the transforming alien cars have gone back to their animated roots with Transformers One, featuring the voices of Chris Hemsworth and Scarlett Johansson. Paramount and Hasbro were expecting this to open strongly and take the top spot at the box office with $30 million. They didn’t make it that far, thanks to a certain ghost with the most.

Yup, three weeks into its release, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is still atop the pile. It earned $26 million, compared to the $25 million of Transformers One. That brings its domestic total to a highly impressive $226.8 million. Not bad for a sequel to a 25-year-old comedy.

Halle Berry’s Never Let Go debuted at number four with $4.5 million, which isn’t good for the struggling Lionsgate. I’m sure their recent AI deal will solve all of their problems (burn it down.)

At number six is The Substance, the Cannes award-winning body horror starring Demi Moore. Fresh off a strong festival run, MUBI has been pushing this one hard. It made $3.1 million from 1,949 theatres, which is OK. This movie is still a hard sell. It’s very gross but also now an Oscar possibility so it’s a weird mish-mash. If this one catches on with audiences, it could be a good slow-burn box office hit. Frankly, it needs to be seen with a large and raucous crowd, believe me!

At number nine is the documentary Jung Kook: I Am Still, about the K-pop superstar, with $1,425,748 from 769 locations. It’s been ten years since the release of Whiplash, because time means nothing now and it makes fools of us all. To celebrate, Sony gave it an anniversary re-release and it brought in $578,424 from 695 cinemas.

In limited release news: The Sebastian Stan drama A Different Man earned $56,126 from only four cinemas; American-Mexican drama In the Summers, which won the Grand Jury Prize U.S. Dramatic at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, grossed $10,950 from two locations; and Happy Clothes: A Film About Patricia Field, a documentary about the costume designer best known for Sex and the City, made $10,254 from one theatre.

This coming week sees the release of Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, DreamWorks animation The Wild Robot, and biopic Lee.

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