North American weekend box office: "Runaway Players" premiere and win "Venom 2" delayed release

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 16 (China News Service) -- Three new films appear in the top five of the North American weekend box office in this issue. The sci-fi film FreeGuy won the title with $28.4 million, while Don't Breathe 2 and Respect came in second and fourth, respectively. In addition, due to the rebound of the epidemic in the United States, Sony Pictures recently announced the postponement of the release of "Venom: LetThereBeCarnage".

Due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, "Runaway Player", which was scheduled to be released in July 2020, has been postponed to August 13 this year. The recent serious rebound of the epidemic in the United States has made the expectations of the box office of "Out of Control Player" tend to be conservative, and $28.4 million has exceeded expectations. According to boxofficemojo.com, a North American box office statistics website, "Runaway Player" currently earns $22.5 million outside of North America, and its global box office has reached $50.9 million.

"Runaway Player" has received good word of mouth in terms of critics and audiences. As of the evening of August 15, "Runaway Player" had 201 critic reviews on the review site Rotten Tomatoes, which received 82% freshness, and more than 1,000 viewers gave a high score of 95%. On the review site CinemaScore, Runaway Player received an "A" rating.

Affected by the epidemic, Hollywood studios have recently become more inclined to adopt a mixed model of cinema and streaming service platforms to launch new movies. "Out of Control" will be screened on the big screen for 45 days before meeting the audience of the streaming service platform.

The second-highest-grossing North American weekend this week was the horror film Don't Breathe 2 by Makuho Pictures. At its premiere weekend, the film grossed $10.6 million from 3,005 theaters in North America, far less than the $26.4 million that "Hold Your Breath" earned five years ago. "Hold Your Breath" eventually grossed $89.2 million in North America and $157.8 million worldwide. "Hold Your Breath 2" currently grossed $14 million worldwide.

As of the evening of Aug. 15, "Hold Your Breath 2" had 35 reviews from film critics on the review site Rotten Tomatoes, which received 51% freshness and 88% ratings from more than 250 viewers.

This weekend, Jungle Cruise, which received $9 million from 3,900 theaters in North America, dropped 43.1 percent at the box office and retreated to third place on the North American weekend box office charts. In its three weeks of release, Jungle Cruise has grossed $82.1 million in North America and $154.3 million worldwide.

The biopic "Respect" about "Queen of soul songs" Aretha Franklin was released in 3207 theaters in North America this weekend and finished fourth on the latest North American weekend box office charts for $8.8 million.

As of the evening of Aug. 15, the film starring Jennifer Hudson had 104 critic reviews on the review site Rotten Tomatoes, receiving a 63% freshness rating and a 94% high score from more than 1,000 viewers. On the review site CinemaScore, Respect received an "A" rating. At the opening weekend, 48 percent of the film's audience was African-American, and two-thirds of the ticket buyers were over the age of 35.

In its second weekend of release, "TheSuicideSquad" plummeted 70.4 percent at the box office to $7.6 million, dropping from first to fifth. Currently, the film has grossed more than $42.88 million in North America and $118 million internationally.

One of the phenomena worth paying attention to in North American theaters in the coming weeks is how major studios will respond to the rebound of the epidemic in the United States caused by the Delta virus. Sony Pictures has just announced that it will adjust the release date of "Venom 2" from September 24 to October 15, and Paramount has withdrawn "Cliffordthe Big RedDog," which was scheduled for September 7.

Source: China News Network