It’s easy to overlook given that The Flash has been gathering the majority of headlines for its woeful performance, but the most recent weekend at the box office was one of the worst the month of June has seen in general for two decades.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is back on top a month after its arrival, and while Elemental should be commended for showing better legs than expected, it’s still going to be Disney’s latest vastly expensive flop. Meanwhile, the movie touted as one of the greatest superhero blockbusters of all-time not less than a month ago has continued free-falling in the most embarrassing of fashions.
All of that means the one genuine success story of the past three days has been almost entirely overlooked, with Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City expanding into 1675 theaters and hauling in $9 million dollars to secure its place as the idiosyncratic filmmaker’s best-ever performance across a solitary frame.
While the figure is peanuts compared to the majority of big-name releases, let’s not forget that Anderson is one of the most acclaimed filmmakers of the modern era, one that’s delivered 10 previous features spanning 27 years, nabbing himself seven Academy Award nominations in the process.
Sure, his most recent contribution the pop culture conversation has been the monotonous TikTok trend that’s turned his entire body of work into a meme, but the box office was about due some good news after Disney and DC conspired to deliver colossal duds on the exact same weekend.