by Conan Simmons – May 6, 2021 – 5:29 am
May started off with a quiet weekend at the box office but not without some notable news. Japan’s highest grossing hit, the anime film ‘Demon Slayer’, took the number one spot on the Weekend Box Office Top 5 last weekend.
‘Demon Slayer’ has already outperformed Hayao Miyazaki’s classic Oscar winning film ‘Spirited Away’ and, unless Hollywood comes up with anything, may be the top animated film to be released in theaters this year.
Audiences can’t seem to get enough of the animated films with ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ holding onto the Top 5 for nine weeks. ‘Mortal Kombat’ and ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’, though both considered live action, feature cgi animated main characters and special effects.
The horror film ‘Separation’ is the only film in the Weekend Top 5 to not rely so heavily on animation.
Warner Bros. and HBO Max seem to be showing signs of fatigue on the day-and-date release strategy. Now that theaters are reopening and more studios are getting back into the competition it’s going to be harder for Warner Bros. to make a profit. The studio continues to shake things up as Warner Bros. Film Chairman, Toby Emmerich is expected to leave the studio for a new job over at Netflix.
Cinemas are expected to return to prominence among the film industry in spite of all of the studios focusing heavily on streaming. After all, anyone can make a movie and stream it online but not everyone can get their movie to have a nationwide release in theaters.
In upcoming movie release news, the Australian hit mystery ‘The Dry’ starring Eric Bana is scheduled for a limited release in the U.S. starting May 21. It was a box office hit down under and could be 2021’s first real contender for the next awards season.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE TOP 5 (April 30 – May 2, 2021)
- ‘Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train’ – $6.4 million – animated (drop $13.1 million, 67% decline)
- ‘Mortal Kombat’ – $6.2 million – fantasy (drop $16.3 million, 72% decline)
- ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ – $2.8 million – fantasy (drop $1.5 million, 35% decline)
- ‘Separation’ – $1.8 million – horror (debut)
- ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ – $1.4 million – animated (drop $300k, 18% decline)
Total for the Weekend Box Office Top 5 comes to $18.6 million. This is a drop of $31.2 million, or 63% decline, from last weekends total of $49.8 million.