Brad Pitt vehicle “Bullet Train” should take No. 1 on the domestic charts. The film earned $12.6 million from 4,357 locations on Friday and is expected to debut at $30 million. It’s a solid performance for an original film with no franchise ties or buzzwords, but the film will need to keep running until August to recoup its $90 million production budget. More from Variety The film’s all-star cast should help with that. Along with Pitt, the cast also includes names like Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Joey King, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon and Benito A. Martínez Ocasio, aka Latin music superstar Bad Bunny. “Bullet Train” is seen as a bit of a check-in for the kind of movie that will rally audiences in theaters. The R-rated action film will be aimed at adult males – the most reliable demographic for consistent theater attendance since the easing of the COVID-19 lockdowns. However, with a marketing campaign that touts a colorful cast of characters instead of any well-known intellectual property, “Bullet Train” isn’t a surefire hit. “Bullet Train” received a lukewarm response from critics, garnering a 41% approval rating from top critics on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. Variety’s chief film critic Peter Debruge mixed on the film, writing that it “tries [its] I dare you to channel the likes of Tarantino and Ritchie, even if the dialogue and pseudo-British accents aren’t strong enough to earn such comparisons.” Audiences were more receptive to “Bullet Train.” The shoot earned a “B+” grade through research firm Cinema Score, indicating solid acceptance among general moviegoers. With August’s slate looking fairly light on high-profile releases, “Bullet Train” should be able to benefit from a quiet theatrical landscape in the coming weeks. Paramount’s “The Lost City,” which starred “Bullet Train” players Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum while playing Pitt in a supporting role, also opened to $30 million earlier this spring before eventually topping $100 million in the domestic market, showing that audiences will continue to flock out for a crowdpleaser without franchise ties. The story continues Directed by Pitt’s former stunt double David Leitch, who has since gone on to helm the likes of “Atomic Blonde” and “Deadpool 2,” the film features the star as an assassin who takes a simple assignment on a high-speed train in Japan . However, he soon discovers that a crop of assassins aboard the ship have conflicting missions of their own. Meanwhile, Universal’s “Easter Sunday,” the weekend’s other new wide release, isn’t making much of an impression in its debut, taking in $2 million on Friday. The studio is projecting a $5 million silent debut from 3,175 locations for comedian Jo Koy’s comedy, which will take the film to eighth place on the domestic charts. “Easter Sunday” stars Koy as a struggling actor and father who attends his dysfunctional Filipino family’s Easter Sunday celebration. The comedy carries a modest $17 million before marketing and distribution costs, so Universal will be crossing its fingers for solid word of mouth and a month without competing releases to give the film some legibility. The release of Warner Bros. ‘DC League of Super-Pets’ appears to be second. The film earned $3.35 million on Friday, down 64% from last week’s opening day. The animated film was somewhat out of place, especially for a film that features artwork from DC Comics (even if it does follow the furry friends of the Justice League). With the film’s current domestic gross standing at $38 million, “Super-Pets” still has a ways to go to recoup its $90 million production budget. Not helping matters for “Super-Pets” is the continued success of Universal’s “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” which has remained a big hit with audiences since its July 4th weekend debut. The “Despicable Me” spinoff looks to be fifth on the domestic charts this weekend, down 38% in its sixth weekend. The film’s domestic gross currently stands at an impressive $330 million. Universal’s “Nope” looks set to take the bronze, pulling in $8 million for its third weekend. Jordan Peele’s sci-fi thriller should cross $100 million domestically sometime in the next week — a remarkable feat for an original film sold mostly on its director’s name. Disney’s “Thor: Love and Thunder” is in fourth place, adding $2.2 million to its Friday haul. The Marvel Cinematic Universe entry is currently the sixth-biggest domestic release of the year, pushing its domestic gross to $315 million this weekend. Finally, it looks like “Top Gun: Maverick” may finally break out of the top five at the domestic box office for the first time this weekend, though it’s in a close race for fifth place with “The Rise of Gru.” Paramount’s blockbuster sees another slight drop — down just 21% — in its eleventh weekend at the box office. With $657 million in the bank from North America, the Tom Cruise sequel will likely surpass “Titanic’s” $659 million today to become the seventh-biggest film in domestic box office history. The best of the variety Sign up for the Variety newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Click here to read the full article.
