Welcome to another weekly installment of Couch Potato, where I go over what went down on the big and small screens so you can be a better-informed viewer.
Tom Cruise rode his way to the top spot at the box office as Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One roped in $56.2 million domestically in its opening weekend ($80 million if you count the 5-day total since opening on Wednesday). On the bright side, its worldwide total looks much more impressive thanks to a huge boost from China, earning it $235 million globally so far. However, these numbers are unfortunately more in-line with other Mission Impossible movies and not with Top Gun: Maverick as Cruise and Paramount were hoping for. We will see how it can fare next week as two strong contenders enter the competition.
Next up, conservative movie audiences saw a huge win with Sound of Freedom going UP in its second weekend (and by 37%, no less) to bring in another $27 million domestically. It’s creeping up on the $100 million mark in the United States, and with only a 14.5 million dollar budget, this constitutes a huge victory for Angel Studios. Rounding out our famous “Top of the Top 10” at the box office is last week’s winner, Insidious: The Red Door, which dropped 61%, adding another $13 million to its domestic box office total.
In some less good news, the only thing in Indiana Jones’ destiny seems to be to tap out in the $300 million range, as it barely crossed $302 worldwide this weekend. While these numbers might sound good, the studio can effectively give up any hope of breaking even, let alone turning a profit.
To end it on a bit of a brighter note at the box office, though, Barbie fans can rejoice as the industry is currently projecting a triple-digit domestic opening weekend, setting it up for a spot in the top ten July openings of all time.
When it comes to streaming, The Out-Laws saw a great debut taking the number one spot for movies on Netflix with over 18 million views. Extraction 2 may have finally lost the top spot in its fourth week, but it could still hold onto the number two spot, adding another 8.9 million views to its impressive total this week. Finally, Nimona sees its debut in the “Top of the Top 10,” taking third place with 6.7 million views.
If you’re looking for a binge-worthy series instead, the number one show this week was the third season of The Witcher, holding onto the top spot with over 85 million hours viewed. Next up, The Lincoln Lawyer Season 2 debuted in second place with 31 million hours viewed in its own right. Finally, Tom Segura’s new Netflix special, Sledgehammer, debuted in third place with 4.8 million hours viewed to round out the “Top of the Top 10.”
As I hinted earlier, all eyes are on the performance of Barbenheimer (Barbie and Oppenheimer). Whether you plan to do a double-header, see one or the other, or catch Mission Impossible in its second weekend, it’s looking like you really are spoiled for choice, and I’ll be here to report on what the numbers wound up looking like when the dust settles.
Stay tuned for that, and until next time, happy viewing!