Smurfs, Paramount’s new take on the popular Belgian blue characters, debuted at the No. 4 spot on the U.S. box office chart this weekend, with an estimated $11 million in 3,504 theaters. Directed by Chris Miller (Shrek the Third, Puss in Boots), the Rihanna-and-James Corden-voiced musical feature made $22.6 million in other territories, bringing in its global gross to $33.6 million. The film had an uphill battle attracting family audiences, especially with a poor 21% Rotten Tomatoes score, and big competition from James Gunn’s super popular Superman which continued to take the No. 1 spot at the box office with a $57.250 million weekend and a total of $171.8 million cume domestically and a grand total of $4/6.8 million worldwide after only two weekends in theaters.
Disney/Pixar’s Elio continued its slide down the charts at No. 8 with a $2 million weekend (a 49% drop and a total of $68.9 million in its fifth weekend at the box office. Worldwide, the movie has made around $129.8 million since its release in June.
Meanwhile in Japan, the latest installment in the hugely popular Demon Slayer franchise is packing houses since its release on Friday. Demon Slayer: Kimetsue No Yaiba Infinity Castle, Deadline reports that the four-day weekend (Monday is a holiday in Japan) is expected to translate to a 5.9 yen ($39.7 million). The movie had also made a record $3 million at IMAX theaters in the country — which is estimated to be larger than any Hollywood or Japanese features in IMAX. Based on the popular manga series by Koyoharu Gotouge, which was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from Feb. 2016 to May 2020, this is the third Demon Slayer movie and the first in the Infinity Castle trilogy. Directed by Haruo Sotozaki and written by Ufotable, the movie is distributed by Aniplex and Toho in Japan and by Sony worldwide. The movie will open in U.S. theaters on Sep. 12.
Look for Universal/DreamWorks eagerly anticipated The Bad Guys 2 to steal a big chunk of the box office when it opens on August 1. You can read our interview with the creative team behind the hot criminal animal sequel here.
Sources: Boxofficemojo, Deadline.com, Variety
