‘Taylor Swift: Eras Tour’ Tops For Second Week, ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Impressive In Second

Taylor Swift and her Eras Tour concert film continued to dominate the box office but Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon had an impressive showing in second place even if its start doesn’t seem all that great given its $200 million budget.

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour grossed $33.2 million in its second weekend, down 64.2 percent from the previous weekend. A drop like that was to be expected given the rush factor from hardcore fans to see the film on opening weekend and it should be also noted that all of the grosses so far from the movie are purely from the weekends. There are no weekday showings for The Eras Tour’s three-week run so the fact the fans are propelling the film where it has gone so far is even more impressive.

Taylor Swift and the Swifties have one more weekend in play but it’s looking like Five Nights at Freddy’s is going to have a potential $50 million+ debut so the film won’t be number one next weekend but it will be interesting to see what the third weekend grosses will be. On the international front, the movie has brought in $46 million to date and it now brings its global total to $178.7 million.

Debuting in second is Killers of the Flower Moon with a gross of $23.2 million. There has been much speculation about whether or not this is a good start for a $200 million film and, honestly, normally it wouldn’t be. This movie is a bit of an exception for a few reasons. First, this is a good start for a movie that clocks in at 206 minutes.  The runtime prevents a large number of showtimes in a day, particularly on IMAX screens, so the fact that it opened above $20 million is its first win.

This is also a good start for a period drama that is set in the 1920s. This isn’t mainstream fare and it even lacks some of the urgency that turned Oppenheimer into a hit with adult audiences. That film essentially marketed itself as a blockbuster for adults while Killers of the Flower Moon has more arthouse sensibilities, despite the presence of Scorsese as director and the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro in its cast. BTW, the cast wasn’t available to promote the film due to the SAG-AFTRA strike and I’d argue the opening could’ve been even better with their participation.

It should also be noted that Apple isn’t looking at this as a loss here despite its large budget. Releasing the film theatrically and holding the date on when it will hit their streaming service, shows they are serious about the theatrical experience and stand by the artistic integrity of the filmmakers they are working with. Some in the business have described releasing the movie as a marketing expense since most of their prime revenue comes from iPhones, computers, and iPads. The film just adds to their brand and if the theatrical rental covers their marketing costs, it’s a win. Given the film’s “A-” CinemaScore and potential as a big Oscar contender, Killers of the Flower Moon could have legs with older audiences but opening weekend shows the younger crowd was also very interested in the film. 44 percent of the audience was under the age of 30 so that is another factor playing into long-term success. On the global end, Flower Moon had a worldwide opening of $44 million.

Falling to third is The Exorcist: Believer with $5.6 million, down 48.1 percent from last weekend. The good news here is that the film topped $100 million at the global box office, well ahead of its $30 million budget. The not-so-good news is the $400 million spent for the rights of the property so we won’t know for a bit if this investment was worth it for Universal Pictures. It’s crazy to think that the film is already out on digital ahead of its fourth weekend in theaters so that is bound to knee-cap the rest of its box office run. On the domestic front, the film has grossed $54.3 million to date.

PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie finds itself in fourth place with a gross of $4.4 million. That’s a drop of 35.8 percent but this film has been a win since it opened. The goal here is to sell toys and that job has been done greatly. To date, the movie has grossed $56 million domestically and $148.5 million worldwide.

Rounding out the top five is the 30th-anniversary re-release of The Nightmare Before Christmas, which grossed $4.2 million on just 1,650 screens. Also, not a bad showing since this film was also airing on ABC over the weekend. This is just a popular cult hit that will continue to find an audience whenever it’s shown in theaters.

What are your thoughts on this weekend’s box office? Check back next week when we find out if Five Nights at Freddy’s lived up to its box office tracking hype.