‘Barbie’ Spends A Fourth Week At Number One While ‘The Last Voyage Of The Demeter’ Sinks

Barbie continued its box office dominance weekend while the lone new wide release, The Last Voyage of The Demeter sank in its debut.

Barbie spent a fourth week at number one with a gross of $33.8 million, down just 36.2 percent from the previous weekend. Director Greta Gerwig continued to break records with the film as she has now broken the global and domestic box office records for a female director. With a gross of $526.4 million domestically, the film tops the $477.4 million taken in by Frozen II, which was co-directed by Jennifer Lee. On the global front, Barbie has amassed $1.18 billion worldwide which puts it ahead of the 1.13 billion grossed by Captain Marvel, a film co-directed by Anna Boden. It’s likely that Barbie is relinquishing the top spot to Blue Beetle or Strays this weekend but there is still a lot of gas left in the tank to carry it through the end of the summer.

In second place we find Oppenheimer still pulling in solid grosses with a take of $18.8 million, down a mere 35.4 percent from last weekend. Oppenheimer is honestly performing like a huge tentpole release rather than a historical epic and it’s honestly a testament to Christopher Nolan’s pull with audiences as a director. Domestically, Oppenheimer has grossed $264.2 million to date and it currently sits with $649 million worldwide. Much like Barbie, there is still enough interest in Oppenheimer to carry the film through the end of the summer to see its grosses soar even more.

In third place, we find Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem moving up a spot from fourth with a gross of $15.2 million. That’s a decline of 45.5 percent which isn’t all that bad since the movie opened mid-week during its opening. A sequel and a TV series are already in the works so we’ll be seeing more from the Turtle gang as this should still play as the top choice for kids since Haunted Mansion fizzled. To date, Mutant Mayhem has grossed $72.3 million domestically and $94.2 million worldwide on a $70 million budget.

Meg 2: The Trench drops to fourth place with a gross of $12.8 million. That’s a steep decline of 57.2 percent but before we call this one a miss, Meg 2: The Trench is killing it overseas and that’s likely why we’ll be getting a third installment should Warner Bros. want to move forward with one. The film has grossed $90.2 million in China alone and its worldwide total stands at $256.9 million with only $54.2 million coming from the domestic front. The shark sequel was always meant to play as more of an overseas player so this one will ultimately represent a win in the end.

Rounding out the top five is the disappointing $6.5 million debut of The Last Voyage of the Demeter. Costing $45 million to make, this is going to be a rare recent miss for the horror genre but it honestly feels like a period-piece horror film was a tough sell for the general audience. Tracking had the project headed for disaster early on and even though some have questioned how much the movie was actually promoted, I have seen trailers attached to most films I saw this summer. Awareness was there. Moviegoers just simply weren’t interested.

What are your thoughts on this weekend’s box office results? Check back next week when Blue Beetle and Strays enter a very crowded marketplace.