Winona Ryder poses for photographers upon arrival at the photo call for the film Beetlejuice Beetlejuice on Aug. 30 in London, U.K.Scott A Garfitt/The Canadian Press
Moviegoers said yes to more Beetlejuice Beetlejuice this weekend.
After its monster opening, the Tim Burton sequel easily topped the domestic box office charts again with US$51.6-million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. Down only 54 per cent from a week earlier, the North American gross for the Warner Bros. release is already at US$188-million. Internationally, it added US$28.7-million, bringing its worldwide total to a staggering US$264.3-million.
While its hold was strong, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice didn’t have much in the way of major new competition. Fresh offerings included the James McAvoy horror Speak No Evil, a satirical documentary following right-wing podcaster Matt Walsh; and a new Dave Bautista action pic, The Killer’s Game.
Second place in weekend ticket sales went to Speak No Evil, a remake of a 2022 Danish horror film about an unsuspecting family who decides to spend a weekend with new friends in the country. McAvoy stars in it, along with Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy. With positive reviews and a shrewd release date of Friday the 13th, the Blumhouse production released by Universal Pictures made an estimated US$11.5-million from 3,375 locations.
Deadpool & Wolverine landed in third place in its eighth weekend with another US$5.2-million. The Disney and Marvel blockbuster is now up to US$621.5-million in North America and US$1.3-billion globally.
The Daily Wire movie Am I Racist? placed fourth at the box office, with an estimated US$4.7-million from only 1,517 theatres. Described as a mockumentary in the style of Borat, the movie has conservative columnist Walsh going undercover as a “DEI trainee.” Walsh had a similar gimmick, pretending to be a gender studies professor, in the 2022 movie What is a Woman? Both were directed by Justin Folk.
Am I Racist? cost a reported US$3-million to make. To release it, the Daily Wire – the Ben Shapiro co-founded company – partnered with SDG Releasing, a distribution company founded by God’s Not Dead writers Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman, who promise the “lowest fees in the business.” Among the trailers playing before Am I Racist? is another film targeting conservative audiences: The coming Dinesh D’Souza movie Vindicating Trump.
In limited release, Amazon MGM Studios began its rollout of the Sundance breakout My Old Ass, starring Maisy Stella, in seven theatres in New York, Los Angeles and Austin, where it made a combined $171,242. The coming of age movie expands nationwide on Sept. 27.