Hello everyone,
BOX OFFICE: Apple Original Films just found out how well one of their movies could do in a wide theatrical release. “F1” made $57 million over the weekend including $10 million on the previews last Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights (you may remember my comment about the “almost full” screenings last week). It’s the biggest theatrical opening ever for Apple. Last weeks #1 movie “How to Train Your Dragon” slipped 46% down to #2 with $19.5 million. “Elio” dropped to #3 with $10 million. The other new movie this week was the sequel “Megan 2.0” which did poorly making just $10.2 million for the #4 spot. “F1” was only on approx. 3660 screens which is less than “How to Train Your Dragon” (4130 screens) and “Elio” (3750 screens) but made approx. $15570 per screen which is over 3 times what “How to Train Your Dragon” made ($4750 per screen).
Overall, the total domestic box office made $127.3 million which is slightly higher than the $125.3 million from last week.
WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE: “F1” also did well internationally making almost $90 million in foreign countries for a worldwide gross of almost $150 million. “How to Train Your Dragon” foreign box office is still doing well making $34 million internationally for a worldwide box office just over $455 million. “28 Years Later” reached $103 million worldwide this past weekend which makes it the best box office of the franchise. “Megan 2” also failed in foreign countries with a worldwide gross of just $17 million. “Lilo and Stich” is now at $946 million worldwide which is only slightly behind the #2 movie of 2025 worldwide (so far) “A Minecraft Movie” ($954.4 million). The China movie “Ne Zha 2” is #1 worldwide with a staggering box office of over $2 billion.
OTHER NEWS:
Amazon – the new owners of the James Bond franchise – hasn’t picked an actor to play James Bond and doesn’t have a script for the next James Bond movie yet but they now have a director. It was announced that Dennis Villeneuve will be the director of the next James Bond movie once he’s finished with the 3rd “Dune” movie.
To get more movies and TV shows to come back and film in Los Angeles/California. The California Lawmakers just secured an annual $750 million for film tax credits.
LITTLE BIT OF HUMOR:
After “Top Gun Maverick” was so successful there were rumors going around that they’re working on a sequel to another Tom Cruise movie. The 1990 “Days of Thunder”.
Then, Tom Cruise showed up to the London premiere of “F1” last week to support his old friend Brad Pitt (they starred in “Interview with a Vampire” back in 1994) and to support the director Joseph Kosinski (who also directed “Top Gun Maverick”).
Some people suggested that Tom Cruise showed up to complain that they stole his storyline for the “Days of Thunder” sequel (an older race car driver returns to train some new young drivers). Can you imagine Tom Cruise telling Brad Pitt “YOU STOLE MY STORYLINE!!!!!”
Also, some people suggested that the “Days of Thunder” sequel could possibly include Brad Pitts character from “F1” (including the “F1” director Joseph Kosinski in a recent interview) since both movies were produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. That could be a good idea.
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 