For the first time in nearly a decade, Matt Damon’s amnesiac hero Jason Bourne returned to theaters. He used to forget who he was but the weekend gross for Jason Bourne shows that audiences haven’t forgotten. With a final number of $59 million, this is the second-largest box office opening for the franchise behind The Bourne Ultimatum. Compared to the previous installment, which was absent of Matt Damon, Jason Bourne pulled in $22 million. Internationally, Jason Bourne raked in additional $50.1 million from nearly 50 markets, bringing its opening total to nearly $110 million.
Star Trek Beyond, which debuted at #1 last week, came in second place but with a significant caveat: The third film in the reboot series dropped nearly 60% in the span of a single weekend, grossing $24 million. This is a significant drop compared to the prior two films in the series. The good news is that it’s passed the $100 million mark thanks to worldwide releases. The bad news is that it has not yet earned back its $185 million budget. With a fourth film in the works already, the next few weeks could signal the interest level of general audiences in this upcoming Star Trek film.
One of the two other wide newcomers of the weekend, Bad Moms, earned the number three spot in the box office top five. Starring Mila Kunis and Kristen Bell as repressed moms gone wild, it brought in an estimate gross of $23.4 million. Expectations were also subverted critically, scoring an A- on Cinemascore and a fresh rating on aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Although it opened slightly below estimates, it fared much better with female audiences than April’s The Boss starring Melissa McCarthy. With a budget of only $20 million, Bad Moms is well on its way to making a decent if unspectacular profit.
Nerve, which also opened this week, secured the number eight spot with a five day gross totaling $15 million. Despite the additional days thanks to its Wednesday release, its total dipped below studio expectations. Spots four and five on the top five belong to holdovers The Secret Life of Pets and Lights Out. Both Ice Age: Collision Course and Ghostbusters also had higher grosses compared to Nerve. While not a bomb by any means, it does demonstrate the power of name recognition and the legs of good buzz.
This upcoming weekend sees the release of Suicide Squad as well as the Kevin Spacey cat film Nine Lives Both will open wide on August 5.
