Weekend Box Office: John Wick: Chapter 4 Shoots to Franchise-Best Debut

It’s been a banner month for franchise high openings, with the Scream, Creed, and now John Wick series all earning their top debut weekends to date.

Lionsgate’s R-rated action thriller starring Keanu Reeves gunned its way to a $73.5M start in first place, in line with pre-release industry projections.

The franchise has experienced consistently increasing openings to date, with this fourth installment opening above the first installment’s cumulative total. The fourth installment debuts:

• 5.1x above 2014’s John Wick ($14.4M)
• 2.4x above 2017’s John Wick: Chapter Two ($30.4M)
• +29% above 2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum ($56.8M)

The opening weekend audience was an estimated 69% male, higher than Parabellum’s 63% figure. Also, 70% of the audience was age 25 and older, slightly younger than Parabellum’s 74%.

The fourth installment’s “A” CinemaScore is also the franchise’s highest yet, beating the first installment’s “B” and an “A-” for both the second and third.

The film also debuted with $64.0M overseas and $137.5M globally. That global debut is larger than the original film’s global total ($86.0M). The franchise high is Parabellum with $327.2M globally.

Read Boxoffice PRO’s interview with director Chad Stahelski here:

https://www.boxofficepro.com/no-way-back-one-way-out-chad-stahelski-brings-john-wick-back-to-the-post-pandemic-big-screen/ 

Shazam! Fury of the Gods

Last weekend, Warner Bros.’ superhero comedy sequel opened with $30.1M in first place. That was a disappointing -43% below 2019’s original Shazam! ($53.5M).

Now in its sophomore frame, the sequel falls -68% to $9.7M and second place.

That sophomore drop is steeper than almost every other “DC Extended Universe” installment:

• 2018’s Aquaman (-23% on Christmas weekend, then -41%)
• 2017’s Wonder Woman (-43%)
• February 2020’s Birds of Prey (-48%)
• 2019’s Shazam! (-54%)
• 2017’s Justice League (-56%)
• 2022’s Black Adam (-59%)
• 2013’s Man of Steel (-65%)
• 2016’s Suicide Squad (-67%)

However, it’s milder than:

• 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (-69%)
• 2021’s The Suicide Squad (-71%)

Fury has earned $56.1M overseas, for a $102.4M global total.

It appears certain not to match the $363.5M global total of 2019’s original Shazam! In the worst-case scenario, it might not even reach half of it.

Top overseas totals to date include Mexico ($7.7M), China ($5.8M), and the U.K. ($5.0M). That China total in particular is only a fraction of the original’s $43.8M there.

Scream VI

Now in its third frame, Paramount’s horror sequel falls -52% to $8.4M and third place.

After debuting with the franchise’s top opening, the sixth installment has already exceeded the final domestic total of the prior three.

While it hasn’t quite matched the totals for the ‘90s-era first or second installments yet, it appears poised to likely exceed both within the next week or two.

With $89.9M total, the sixth installment is currently:

• +10% and counting above 2022’s fifth installment Scream ($81.6M)
• 2.35x and counting above 2011’s Scream 4 ($38.1M)
• +1% and counting above 2000’s Scream 3 ($89.1M)
• -11% below 1997’s Scream 2 ($101.3M)
• -13% below 1996’s Scream ($103.0M)

Scream VI has now earned $49.4M overseas and $139.3M globally.

That just slightly exceeds the global total of 2022’s Scream with $138.8M. However, it hasn’t yet caught up to the first three installments, which all earned in the $160M to $175M range globally.

Top overseas markets to date include France ($7.7M), U.K. ($7.4M), Mexico ($4.5M), and Australia ($4.1M).

Creed III

Now in its fourth frame, the MGM / United Artists Releasing boxing drama declines -46% to $8.3M and fourth place.

The film’s $140.8M has already exceeded the final domestic totals of both of its two predecessors:

• +28% and counting above 2015’s Creed ($109.7M)
• +21% and counting above 2018’s Creed II ($115.7M)

Creed III has earned $105.0M overseas, for a $245.8M global total. That’s also already exceeded both of its predecessors:

• +41% and counting above 2015’s Creed ($173.5M global)
• +15% and counting above 2018’s Creed II ($213.5M global)

Top overseas totals include France ($16.4M), U.K. ($15.4M), Germany ($10.1M), Mexico ($8.1M), and Italy ($7.2M).

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Now in its sixth frame, the Disney / Marvel Studios superhero sequel falls -43% to $2.4M and sixth place.

Quantumania’s $209.8M has already exceeded the final domestic total of 2015’s Ant-Man. However, it risks soon trailing 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp, an outcome few would have projected pre-release.

Through 38 days in release, Quantumania is faring poorly versus both the two prior Ant-Man films, plus 2022’s three Marvel Cinematic Universe releases:

Avatar: The Way of Water

Now in its fifteenth frame, 20th Century Studios’ sci-fi sequel declined -33% to $1.4M.

After spending its first 14 frames in the top 100 of all time, it finally falls out of that tier, failing to earn one of the top 100 fifteenth weekends of all time.

Here are Water’s all-time rankings by weekend number:

With $680.4M domestically, Water now ranks #7 all time, behind only:

1. 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($936.6M)
2. 2019’s Avengers: Endgame ($858.3M)
3. 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home ($814.1M)
4. 2009’s Avatar ($785.2M)
5. 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick ($718.7M)
6. 2018’s Black Panther ($700.4M)

That makes Water the #2 domestic release from 2022 so far, despite only achieving the #5 opening weekend of that year.

Through the equivalent point in release, Water is running -2.4% behind Maverick and -8.1% behind the original Avatar.

Water is also the #3 film of all time both overseas and globally, in both cases behind 2009’s original Avatar and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.

Weekend comparisons

Total box office this weekend came in around $115.8M, which is:

YTD comparisons

Year-to-date box office stands around $1.61B, which is:

Top distributors

Grouped by parent company, the YTD leaders are:

1. 1. Disney + 20th Century + Searchlight: $512.6M
   2. Universal + Focus Features: $345.9M
   3. Lionsgate: $161.1M
   4. Paramount: $148.9M
   5. MGM + United Artists: $146.2M
   6. Sony Pictures + Sony Classics: $140.7M
   7. Warner Bros.: $81.4M

Sunday’s Studio Weekend Estimates: