by Conan Simmons – September 28, 2021 – 7:17 pm
September is coming to a close and autumn is here! As we stated back in August, ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ has remained number one at the box office all month with nigh a contender in sight. The Marvel fantasy flick has grossed nearly $200 million in the domestic box office making it the biggest winner of the year so far. It will ultimately relinquish the top spot this coming weekend as newcomers ‘The Many Saints of Newark’, ‘The Addams Family 2’ and ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ hit the screens. As two of those are day-and-date releases on HBO Max and Paramount+, respectively, that leaves theater only release ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ to be the clear winner for the weekend crown.
Let’s take a look at how this last weekend shakes out.
The latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, ‘Shang-Chi’, as stated is the undisputed champion at number one. The only film to debut over the weekend in the Top 5 is the musical ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ starring Ben Platt and Amy Adams. Made on a budget of $28 million the adaptation of the hit Broadway musical (produced by star Ben Platt’s father, Marc Platt) debuted to a meager $7.4 million. Not great box office but better than On Genre expected. Musicals are among the hardest genres to breakthrough to audiences at the box office, as evidenced by the lackluster showing of ‘In the Heights’ over the summer. ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ had several things going against it, notably the star Ben Platt isn’t a box office draw at cinemas unlike on the Broadway stage where he’s more prominent. He is also nearing 30 years old and playing an awkward high schooler amongst a cast closer to the age they’re playing probably isn’t the best casting decision even if Ben Platt did make his name as the breakout star in the play on Broadway, but then that was in 2016 when he was much closer to the age of his character. The other major hurdle the movie adaptation faced is being made and released in the current pandemic climate when there’s probably not the biggest of audiences looking to watch a two and a half hour musical about suicide.
On a more positive note ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ did come closer than any film this month to matching a weekend take of ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’. There is only a $5.6 million difference between the Marvel film’s box office of $13 million and the musical’s take of $7.4 million. The closest any other film came over the month was the prior weekend take of ‘Free Guy’ at $5.2 million compared to ‘Shang-Chi’s $21.7 million. (But perhaps I’m trying too hard to find a positive spin just to talk about something other than a Marvel film.)
The rest of the Weekend Box Office Top 5 are holdovers from Ryan Reynolds’ comedy ‘Free Guy’ co-starring Jodie Comer, who can be seen again on the big screen next month in ‘The Last Duel’, horror hit ‘Candyman’ whose thunder will be stolen in a couple of weeks when ‘Halloween Kills’ hits day-and-date, and the neo-western ‘Cry Macho’ by cinema icon Clint Eastwood. It’s interesting to note that the neo-western has been making a mark on audiences in the past year with both ‘Cry Macho’ and ‘Let Him Go’, starring Kevin Costner, both quietly performing decently to a loyal fanbase. Could this be a sign that the Western genre can make a comeback?
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE TOP 5 (September 24-26, 2021)
- ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ – $13 million – fantasy (drop $8.7 million, 40% decline)
- ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ – $7.4 million – musical (debut)
- ‘Free Guy’ – $4.1 million – comedy (drop $1.1 million, 21% decline)
- ‘Candyman’ – $2.6 million – horror (drop $900k, 26% decline)
- ‘Cry Macho – $2 million – western (drop $2.5 million, 56% decline)
The total for the Weekend Box Office Top 5 comes to $29.1 million. This is a drop of $8.5 million, for a 23% decline, from last weekends total of $37.6 million.
The month of October will see a major release every weekend so get prepared for some turbulence at the box office!