Sony/Stage 6 Films/Blumhouse’s fifthquel Insidious: The Red Door nearly locked out Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny yesterday at the box office. The Patrick Wilson starring and directed PG-13 horror film scared up $5M in previews at 2,806 locations that began showtimes at 4PM. That amount of money is very close to what Indy grossed, early estimates showing around $5.2M for the day in an awful week that ended at $94.5M for the $300M-plus grossing Disney/Lucasfilm finale sequel. Insidious is big with women under 25, Indiana Jones with older men.
Red Door posted the best previews ever for an Insidious movie beating 2018’s Insidious: The Last Key ($1.98M), and the $1.6M which Insidious: Chapter 2 and 3 earned apiece.
Indy with its PLFs and Imax screen holds is expected to ease around -60% per industry estimates with $24M — but don’t underestimate the vibrant power of The Red Door which tracking has around $22M. It’s going to be a fun July 4 hangover weekend before Paramount/Skydance light the wick on Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Part One on Wednesday. That said, remember horror movies are front-loaded and apt to drop on Saturday. That said, Insidious: The Last Key saw a -13% dip on its first Saturday against Friday (which included previews).
2013’s Insidious Chapter 2 owns the highest opening for a movie in the 13-year-old horror franchise with $40.2M. However, the fourthquel, Insidious: The Last Key, did great off its $10M production cost with a $29.5M start.
Already, Indiana Jones‘ first week at 4,600 theaters is ahead of No Time to Die‘s $75.2M (the pic finaled at $160.8M). Remember, the 007 finale opened at a time when everyone was still skittish about returning to cinemas during the pandemic.
Critics were never big on Insidious movies: The first one was 66% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, but the last one, 2018’s Insidious: The Last Key notched 33%. Still the franchise has never been cursed by reviews to the point where it can’t be a cash cow; Red Door costing $16M before P&A. Critics gave the latest chapter here, which also stars series star Rose Byrne, a 45% Rotten, while RT audiences currently have it at 72% — which is higher than the original film (62%) and Last Key (50%).
Lionsgate and Point Grey’s Joy Ride also held previews last night and Wednesday at 6PM which amounted to $1.1M. The Adele Lim-directed raunchy R-rated Asian American comedy is looking at $7M-$9M at 2,820 locations. Comps: R-rated Girls Trip back in 2017 did $1.7M in previews — but Joy Ride isn’t expected to follow that pic’s box office path which had a $31.2M opening. Joy Ride‘s extended preview here are higher than last summer’s Jo Koy Asian American comedy, Easter Sunday, which was PG-13 and made $500K for a $5.4M opening weekend.
What else is going on: Angel Studios’ Jim Caviezel thriller Sound of Freedom after posting a $11.5M July 4 opening day plus lopping on another $2.5M in crowdfunded dollars fell like a rock on Wednesday with $3.6M with -69%, but held steady on Thursday with an estimated $3.5M at 2,634 theaters, -5% from Wednesday, for a running Tuesday-Thursday total of $21.3M. It wouldn’t be shocking if the pic’s total gets to $30M by Sunday. The box office phenomenon here is that there’s a lot of right-wing group money pouring into the crowdfunded pic, with moviegoers getting free tix. Still, it’s business for movie theaters.
Disney/Pixar’s Elemental was third on Thursday at 3,650 with $2M, +4% from Wednesday, but second for the week with a third sesh of $22M (ahead of Sony’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse‘s $21.2M fifth week). Elemental stands at $99.4M in running cume, while Spidey is at $349.6M. The latter’s Thursday was $1.75M, -6% from Wednesday at 3,405 theaters.
Fifth Thursday was Sony’s Jennifer Lawrence R-rated comedy, No Hard Feelings, with an estimated $970K, -11% from Wednesday, for a second week of $13.3M, and running total of $35.1M. The movie has already surpassed the domestic gross of Sony’s R-rated bawdy Scarlett Johansson comedy, Rough Night, which finaled at $22.1M.