The latest film starring Zendaya released to a quiet box office the last weekend of April. Challengers, a story by scribe Justin Kuritzkes following tennis prodigy Tashi Donaldson who coaches her husband to victory after a rough losing streak, opened to $15 million in domestic ticket sales as it made its way to 3,477 theaters.
The sports drama averaged about $1,799 per theater on Friday (April 26), totaling a daily of $6.26 million. Saturday grosses dropped by 20.8% for a $4.96 million box office, followed by a 23.4% change on Sunday at $3.79 million.
Despite the modest performance, United Artists Releasing’s independent film managed to rank at No. 1, beating out other films in first week of release, such as Lionsgate’s Unsung Hero ($7.7M), the No. 10 ranked film Roadside Attractions’ Boy Kills World ($1.7M), and re-releases Alien ($1.6M) and The Mummy ($1M).
Some of the huge Spring tentpole films still rank in the top 10 movies in theaters right now. At No. 9, Zendaya’s other film, Dune: Part Two, added another $2.04 million for a total domestic box office of $279 million. The Warner Bros. pic has made $704.5 million worldwide since its March 1 rollout.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (Sony Pictures) holds the No. 8 position with an earnest $3.25 million over the weekend, totaling $188.16 million worldwide. Universal’s Kung Fu Panda 4, which decreased the number of theaters exhibiting the film by 188, fell from its No. 6 position last week to No. 7 with a weekend box office of $3.59 million and a new worldwide box office of $503.91 million.
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Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, another Warner Bros. picture, is still making an impact with $7.22 million earned at 3,312 theaters over the weekend. Most of the pie is coming from international box office, which outranks domestic grosses by a whopping 65.1% at $339.7 million — worldwide is currently $521.87 million.
In its third week of release, A24’s Civil War inched its way over the $50 million mark in domestic performance. On Thursday (April 25), the film was at $49.19 million as it screened in 3,929 theaters. Despite theater locations decreasing to 3,518 by Friday, the film pulled in $1.9 million on Friday, $2.99 million on Saturday, and $2.1 million on Sunday. The film, currently ranked No. 4, made $56.19 million and $33.74 million, in domestic and international box office, respectively.
Abigail earned $5.2 million at 3,393 theaters, nine more than last week. Just in its second week, the vampire thriller has lost its No. 2 rank, falling down three slots to No. 5. The Universal Pictures production opened to $10.29 million on April 19, but has struggled since then. As it stands, domestic box office is $19.18 million and overseas is $9.79 million.
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Lionsgate’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare ranks No. 6, accumulating $3.84 million domestically with a total $15.76 million since its April 19 debut.
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