Hello everyone,
BOX OFFICE: There were quite a few movie openings this past weekend – plus a couple re-releases – but only 1 movie made a big box office. The anime “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle” broke the record for the best opening weekend of an anime movie coming in at #1 with a whopping $70.6 million. In second was last weeks #1 “The Conjuring: Last Rights” which went down almost 70% from the week before but still made $25.6 million. #3 was the new movie “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” which made $18 million – which the #1 movie made in a single day. #4 was also a new movie “The Long Walk” making $11.7 million. #5 was the “Toy Story” 30th anniversary re-release which made $3.4 million. The other new release “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” failed to draw people in reaching #9 with just $1.61 million and right behind it at #10 making $1.6 million was “The Sound of Music” 60th anniversary re-release.
Overall, the total domestic box office was $147 million which is approx. 18% higher than last week.
WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE: After playing only in Japan during the summer and then slowly opening in more theaters as the weeks went by, “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle” really took off this past weekend in the US and other countries. Its worldwide total is at $132 million including the $70 million in the US, $29 million in Latin America, and $17 million in Europe. “The Conjuring: Last Rights” is still doing moving past $330 million worldwide after this past weekend. “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” which opened in just a few international countries – including the UK where it was the #1 movie of the weekend – has a worldwide opening weekend of $30.4 million. “F1” is still doing decent box office and might become the #5 movie of 2025 so far by next weekend. Its worldwide total is currently $11 million behind the current #5 “How to Train Your Dragon” which is at $634.168 million.
OTHER NEWS:
The big movie industry news last week was that the new Paramount owners are now looking at buying Warner Bros Discovery. Something I think would be a bad idea (see my comments here).
The blockbuster “The Super Mario Bros Movie” just got a name for the sequel movie scheduled to be released in about 6 months. “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” is scheduled for April 3, 2026.
LITTLE BIT OF HUMOR: No, it’s not a mistake…
In “Terminator”, Kyle Reese went back in time to save Sara Conner. That’s why he’s BORN 23 years AFTER he died.
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 