Theater counts: once again, two new movies can’t topple Bullet Train as widest release

August 18, 2022

For the third consecutive week Bullet Train sits atop this weeks theater count list, despite the arrival of Idris Elba’s Beast, as the former comes in this week with 3,781 locations. After 13-days, the assassin film starring Brad Pitt has earned nearly $60 million in North American box office. After two weeks on top, the movie will likely have its hands full with the debut of both Beast and the latest from the popular Dragon Ball Z franchise, with Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero opening in about 3,100 theaters according to the latest from Deadline. Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is on a 90-day theatrical window.

Beast is the widest of the newcomers this week, making its North American debut in 3,743 theaters after opening in 30 overseas territories last weekend to just shy of $5 million. Directed by Baltasar Kormákur, the survival thriller follows a recently widowed husband (Elba) who travels to a South African game reserve with his two young daughters, and must fend off a voracious human-eating lion set on killing anyone in its path. Iyana Halley and Leah Jeffries co-star. Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero will make its appearance on both traditional screens and in IMAX locations. The latest installment follows 2019’s Dragon Ball Super: Broly, which snagged $7.04 million on its Wednesday opening and went on to take in $30.4 million in domestic earnings. Rounding out the top five this week is DC League of Super-Pets, going from 3,803 locations last week to 3,537 this week, and Top Gun: Maverick, which falls below the 3,000-location mark this week, landing in 2,969 theaters.

A wealth of options exist in limited release this week with the debut of Paramount Pictures’ Orphan: First Kill. Releasing in 498 movie houses, the psychological horror film is the prequel to 2009s Orphan, starring Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, and Isabelle Fuhrman. The prequel brings back Fuhrman as well as introducing Julia Stiles and Rossif Sutherland to the franchise. Also arriving in limited release this week is Three Minutes — A Lengthening. Playing in Los Angeles and New York locations, the documentary features the last three minutes of footage ever captured of the Jewish town of Nasielsk, Poland, one year before Nazi occupation and its ultimate destruction.

Looking ahead to next week we see the debut of two wide releases in horror feature, The Invitation and fantasy drama, Three Thousand Years of Longing, which are expected to show up in about 3,000 and 2,500 locations respectively.

Note: The theater count for Bodies Bodies Bodies is an estimate from Box Office Pro. The count for Mack & Rita is our estimate.

Theater Counts for August 19

Estimates for August 26

Bruce Nash

Filed under: Theater Counts, Dragon Ball Z, Top Gun, Brad Pitt, Idris Elba, Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Julia Stiles, Rossif Sutherland, Baltasar Kormakur, Isabelle Fuhrman, Iyana Halley, Leah Jeffries