Theater counts: Thor and Minions lead the pack, as four new movies open nationwide

July 14, 2022

Thor: Love and Thunder and Minions: The Rise of Gru trade places as the two widest releases this weekend, with both films still playing in over 4,000 theaters as four films with narrower target audiences open nationwide this weekend.

Love and Thunder won’t gain any new locations this weekend, staying in 4,375, but The Rise of Gru will shed 316 to play in 4,111 movie houses and slip into second place on the theater count chart.

Two new releases, Where the Crawdads Sing and Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank debut in over 3,000 locations, with Crawdads having a slight edge as it plays in 3,650 theaters to Paws of Fury’s 3,475. The release of Where the Crawdads Sing will be a useful measure of the state of the market for movies that are targeted at an older and more female-centric audience.

The other two films opening nationwide are Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, which also will be looking towards an older, female audience, and debuts in 980 theaters; and Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down, which will open in 302 theaters. Documentaries haven’t fared well since the height of the pandemic, with only Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain topping $1.5 million (although that film did so handily, with $5.4 million in total).

In limited release this weekend, Korean action movie The Killer will open in 56 theaters for new distributor Wide Lens Pictures and British horror movie She Will starts out in 21 locations.

Looking ahead to next week, Universal expects Nope to debut in around 3,700 theaters. There’s a good chance it’ll be the widest release, and an even better chance it’ll top the chart next weekend. Who will top the chart this weekend? Check in tomorrow for our weekend predictions.

Theater Counts for July 15

Estimates for July 22