The Marksman captures top spot at US box office

Los Angeles

A Liam Neeson thriller from Open Road, The Marksman, held onto first place in the North American box office for the second weekend in a row, grossing just over US$2 million. The film has grossed US$61 million after 10 days of release.

That performance allows the movie to retain its box office crown, but that kind of distinction is not worth what it was in pre-pandemic times, particularly with movie theatres closed indefinitely in major markets like New York City and Los Angeles.

There is little that portends a rapid recovery for a sector of the economy that's been decimated by the public health crisis.

Last week, MGM yielded to the inevitable and pushed the release of its James Bond sequel, No Time to Die, from April to Oct 8. The film was initially intended to debut in spring of 2020 before Covid-19 upended daily life. Bond's move prompted a flurry of release date shifts, with the likes of Morbius, Ghostbusters Afterlife, Cinderella, and A Quiet Place Part II all moving to later in the year in the hopes of outrunning a pandemic that continues to claim lives at an alarming rate in the US.

As for the rest of the pack, DreamWorks Animation's The Croods: A New Age grossed US$1.8 million in its ninth week of release, pushing its domestic haul to US$41.8 million. Warner Bros' Wonder Woman 1984 netted US$1.6 million domestically. The superhero sequel debuted simultaneously on HBO Max in an effort to drive subscribers to the WarnerMedia streaming service. Internationally, Wonder Woman 1984 picked up US$2.1 million. The film's global haul stands at US$148 million.

Sony Pictures' Monster Hunter, a film adaptation of a popular video game, grossed US$820,000 over the weekend and has a US gross of US$10.2 million.

Universal's News of the World, a Western with Tom Hanks that is also available on PVOD, earned US$810,000. The film has grossed US$9.6 million domestically after five weeks of release.

Lionsgate's Fatale, a psychological thriller with Hilary Swank, grossed US$415,000. It has a domestic gross of US$5.3 million after just over a month in theatres.

Focus Features' Promising Young Woman took in US$400,000, pushing its gross to US$4 million. Both The Croods sequel and Promising Young Woman are available on PVOD, part of parent studio Universal's deal with exhibitors to release movies in theatres in return for allowing them to debut on-demand within weeks of their big screen bows. REUTERS