Late August isn’t exactly renowned as the most heated box office battleground of the year, but some fiscal manipulation from Sony could be the key to ensuring Gran Turismo manages to win the weekend ahead of the all-conquering and unstoppable Barbie.
The latest video game adaptation to roll off the production line is technically cheating by including the takings from 10 days of previews in its opening weekend haul, but either way District 9 director Neill Blomkamp’s debut as a studio hand-for-hire is tracking somewhere in the $15 million range, hardly a stellar return for a movie that cost a reported $60 million before marketing and has only recouped a third of that cost despite playing in overseas theaters for well over two weeks.
That means Barbie could well end up the victor by the time all is said and done, with the highest-grossing release of the year both home and abroad also heading for a three-day haul of around $15 million, and it wouldn’t surprise anybody were Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie to pull another victory out of the bag.
Unfortunately, that means the best Blue Beetle can hope for is third with projections tracking for a $10.5 million sophomore frame, bringing even more disappointment for the flagging DCU. A couple of notable exceptions aside – of which Barbie is most definitely one – it’s been an altogether disappointing summer all-round at the box office, with the misses coming perilously close to outweighing the hits.
Gran Turismo should enjoy first place if it can get it, though, because Denzel Washington wielding a gun means next week belongs to nothing else but The Equalizer 3.