SONY’S sports action film ‘Gran Turismo’ didn't exactly roar to the front of the North American box office, but did make it there on a slow late-August weekend, beating a still-turbo-powered ‘Barbie’.
Based on a popular video game, ‘Gran Turismo’ took in an estimated US$17.3 million (RM80.55 million) for the Friday-through-Sunday period, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported on Sunday.
"This is a lukewarm opening for an action film based on a video game," particularly compared to previous game-based films like ‘Warcraft’ (US$439 million in worldwide ticket sales) and ‘Rampage’ (US$428 million), analyst David A. Gross said.
The movie stars David Harbour and Orlando Bloom in a story about a racing academy that recruits skilled video gamers to train them as real race-car drivers.
Warner Bros’ ‘Barbie’, meantime, has remained a steady seat-filler, with its US$17.1 million take in its sixth week out propelling it to a US$594 million domestic total.
The Greta Gerwig film recently overtook ‘The Super Mario Bros Movie’ (US$574 million) as the year's domestic box office champ. Add to that the US$745 million ‘Barbie’ has earned overseas.
Analysts said Sony's accounting of ticket sales for ‘Gran Turismo’ was a bit wonky (including millions in pre-sales) and predicted ‘Barbie’ might, in the final tally, be the weekend’s Number One – as she is Ken's.
Last weekend's leader, superhero flick ‘Blue Beetle’ from DC Studios and Warner Bros, dipped to third, at US$12.8 million, a nearly 50% drop from the previous weekend. Xolo Mariduena, as the Beetle, became the first live-action Latino protagonist.
In fourth was Universal's ‘Oppenheimer’, earning an estimated US$9 million. The atom bomb origin story has now surpassed US$300 million in domestic earnings, with an additional US$477 million overseas.
And in fifth place was Paramount's animated ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’, the latest chapter in the heroes-in-a-half-shell saga, at US$6.1 million.
Rounding out the top 10 were:
‘Meg 2: The Trench’ (US$5.1 million)
‘Strays’ (US$4.7 million)
‘Retribution’ (US$3.5 million)
‘The Hill’ (US$2.5 million)
‘Haunted Mansion’ (US$2.1 million) – AFP, August 28, 2023
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