'The Flash' Will Remain No. 1 Against Jennifer Lawrence's Comedy 'No Hard Feelings'

Everett

Update for more… Sony’s mission to bring comedy back to the big screen with the R-Rated Jennifer Lawrence movie, No Hard Feelings, grossed $2.15 million last night from showtimes starting at 4 p.m. at 2,745 locations. The film hopes to gross around $12 million this weekend in what will be the second session where Warner Bros. The bug, The Flash, hopes it doesn’t drop to -70%. On the low end is $16.5 million. It would be a good 55% acquisition with north of $24 million.

The Flash earned $2.8 million yesterday, down -9% from Wednesday, for a first-week total of $72.3 million. That amount of money is what the tracking thought the DC pic would do in a weekend.

Post-pandemic comp really no hard feelings because we haven’t had raunchy comedies for a while. The pic of the best female romantic rom-com tipped to heaven grossed $1.1 million from Thursday showtimes starting at 5 p.m. (though this pic is an aberration of older, and PG-13). Ticket to Heaven opened with $16.5 million. director Gene Staubnitsky, who directed No Hard Feelings here; His previous comedy Good Boys was a high point for raunchy fare at the box office opening with $21.4 million in August 2019 pre-pandemic and $83.1 million. God knows if these kinds of numbers can be achieved anymore because the industry has mandated that audiences now watch comedies in their homes on streaming versus set in theaters. But again, it comes down to the product. Nothing is possible at the box office until it breaks through the genre and changes the course of history. Remember how pirate movies were the kiss of death until Pirates of the Caribbean came along?

Critics haven’t had a lack of hard feelings at 67% on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences in early RT reactions seem to be at 88%. Coming out of Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak portal, Lawrence’s comedy has a score of 4 stars, and a positive 84% — not bad. Last night saw 37% of men over 25, 29% of women over 25, 19% of women under 25 and 15% of men under 25.

Focus Features’ expansion of Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City got off to a great start with $1.1 million from 1,400 theaters last night in previews. The film swells from six locations in Los Angeles and New York to 1,675 locations today. This past weekend, the absurdist comedy troupe had the best post-pandemic average theatrical opening with $142,000. The film is expected to release in the single digits in its second weekend. Anderson’s previous film, The French Dispatch, was released when audiences were still trying to get back into theaters in the fall of 2021, and grossed the top $2 million when it went to a 1,000-plus theatrical break over its 3 weekend.

Asteroid City received a 74% fresh certification from Rotten Tomatoes critics, lower than where French Dispatch had at 75%. This picture also scored a 76% rating with audiences on RT versus Asteroid City which is currently at 69%. PostTrak on Asteroid City is also 4 stars, but 79% positive. Thursday night’s attendance consisted of 42% of men over 25, 28% of women over 25, 16% of men under 25, and 15% of women under 25.

Another buzz Thursday: Sony Animation’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse topped all pictures in Regular Edition with $3.6 million (-5% from Wednesday), a third week with $45.2 million and a total of $297.8 million. Today’s Marvel pic will cross the three century mark.

Disney/Pixar’s Elemental is second with $3.5 million, as of Wednesday, for its first week with $46.9 million.

The May 1-June 19 summer box office is $1.52 billion from 11 wide releases (north of 2,000 theaters). That’s 2.3% ahead of last summer’s $1.49 billion for the framework from six wide releases. The 2023 summer launch fund trails 11% from pre-pandemic 2019 which generated $1.7 billion for the May 1-June 19 period from 17 broad issues (north of 2,000 locations).