TOP GUN MAVERICK/MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND THREAD | 126.7M 3-Day, 160.5M 4-Day. The biggest Memorial Day opening ever! | Doctor Strange 20.5M 4-Day, Bob's Burgers 14.8M

[Eric Prime]

TAKE

MY

BREATH

AWAY

 

Last year, Memorial Day weekend was, in my eyes at least, the most important weekend of 2021. After the lockdowns, Premier Access, and HBO Max, that year’s Memorial Day, headlined by both A Quiet Place Part II and Cruella, was a statement. Beforehand, movie theater attendance and interest was still in doubt in a world plagued (get it?) by streaming and reluctance from moviegoers in venturing out to these consolidated areas. But thanks in part to these films coming out at the right time as vaccines began to roll out domestically, as well as positive reviews and easy commercial appeal for these titles, both films found success. The John Krasinski horror sequel earned the biggest opening weekend of the pandemic era, and Cruella, while more modest, still had impressive legs and earned a pretty penny on Premier Access and PVOD, with a sequel greenlit.

 

It’s the success of both films that ensured things would get better. And while things are far from perfect, and we may have lost some audiences, it’s a definite fact that movie theaters are still going to be with us for the indefinite future, and both Quiet Place and Cruella are to thank for that. They were the movies that paved the way for F9, Shang-Chi, Let There Be Carnage, No Time to Die, Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Batman, Everything Everywhere, Sonic 2, and Doctor Strange 2.

 

This Memorial Day has less pressure, but still very exciting stuff regardless that should signify an amazing summer full of dinosaurs, space rangers, Asgardian gods, music legends, aliens, and trains. This weekend, the hotly-anticipated Top Gun: Maverick finally gets released to theaters. Planned for a release way back in 2019, this Tom Cruise sequel has seen 7 different release dates. It may seem with all those date changes that this was set for a streaming release. Yet Tom Cruise, being the loony madman that he is, knows his movies have potential to soar and that his aviation sequel was something every Gen Xer has anticipated for decades. 

 

 

With the classic 1986 film still as popular as ever, Maverick is back, flying through the skies, in an experience that can only be enjoyed on the biggest screen with the loudest surround sound. And expectations, while already high way back when, are now at incredible, soaring expectations that seem ridiculous, but far from impossible. Some believe that this is the film that will finally topple Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and its 15-year-long streak as the biggest Memorial Day opening. And even if it doesn’t, the film is still set for boffo numbers that show just how much people could not wait to see Maverick on the big screen once again.

 

Then you have The Bob’s Burgers Movie, which should hopefully rope in its college-aged fandom into seeing it in theaters, holdovers like Downton Abbey and Doctor Strange 2 for people to catch up on, and even the epic premieres of the final season of Stranger Things and the new Obi-Wan Kenobi series for those of us who want to enjoy a quiet evening home this weekend. Alongside some cookouts and barbecues, this will be a Memorial Day weekend we will never, ever forget.

 

And I don’t want us to have any bad vibes this weekend, so here’s what I ask for all of you...

 

1. ABSOLUTELY NO SPOILERS. NOT EVEN SPOILERS POSTED UNDER SPOILER TAGS. 

 

This rule also applies to other movies in theaters and films/shows recently released on streaming. So no Downton Abbey spoilers, no Doctor Strange spoilers, no Rescue Rangers spoilers, no Stranger Things spoilers, no Obi-Wan spoilers, etc. If you do spoil something here, you will be banned. No exceptions.

 

2. KEEP YOUR AGENDA OUT OF HERE.

 

3. THE REPORT AND IGNORE BUTTONS ARE YOUR FRIENDS.

 

While trolls are already bad, responding to them only makes it worse. 

 

4. IS OFF-TOPIC DISCUSSION OKAY?

 

Off-topic discussions are okay in situations where there's downtime and there aren't any numbers, so long as they don’t get heated. But when numbers are coming up and things are getting busy, then keep off-topic things down to the minimum. 

 

And lastly...  

 

5. DON'T BE A DICK.

 

And now...

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO

LETS DO THIS SHIT

 

[Eric Prime]

 

[keysersoze123]

[MrPink]

I want to be full OT VIII by the time I walk out of this theater.

[titanic2187]

If TGM proved that a 36 years old sequel that nobody ask for can be a major hit, i can see universal is playing with the idea of ET2. 

[Brainbug]

I do think that Top Gun has a slight chance at beeing Number 1 this weekend.

[MattW]

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/article/ed4151903236/

Quote

Including an estimated $14 million from pre-midnight Thursday previews at approximately 3,100 sites, the supernatural swashbuckler has racked up $57 million in about a day and a half.

Last July, predecessor Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest grabbed a then-record $55.8 million, which included about $9 million from midnight showings. Buena Vista estimated At World's End's midnight showings at $3 million (included in the $43 million), but initial demand was burnt off from Thursday night.

 

By today's standard Pirates 3 was 16.24+39.91+37.70+34.12+25.07 = memorial weekend of $153.0m. Thurs multi of 7.88x previews.

 

(Watching 25th hour as I was looking around for info on when At World's End previews started, getting this weird hit of 2000s nostalgia...)

[Krissykins]

1 minute ago, titanic2187 said:

If TGM proved that a 36 years old sequel that nobody ask for can be a major hit, i can see universal is playing with the idea of ET2. 

If TGM proves to be a major hit, wouldn’t that mean that it’s a 36 year old sequel that everybody asked for?  

[Eric Prime]

4 minutes ago, titanic2187 said:

If TGM proved that a 36 years old sequel that nobody ask for can be a major hit, i can see universal is playing with the idea of ET2. 

Don't you dare speak that evil in these hollowed halls.

[titanic2187]

4 minutes ago, Krissykins said:

If TGM proves to be a major hit, wouldn’t that mean that it’s a 36 year old sequel that everybody asked for?  

There was a lot of doubt when the idea TGM first come real. Especially after ID2 bombed, TGM quickly hyped as the next bomb as a sequel that come too late and nobody ask for. 
 

so a whole new lesson for all studio. Nobody ask for a poorly done TG sequel. 
 

 

[Brainbug]

Just now, titanic2187 said:

There was a lot of doubt when the idea TGM first come real. Especially after ID2 bombed, TGM quickly hyped as the next bomb as a sequel that come too late and nobody ask for. 
 

so a whole new lesson for all studio. Nobody ask for a poorly done TG sequel. 
 

 

 

Was gonna say. ID2 didnt bomb because nobody wanted an Independence Day sequel.

 

It bombed because it was one of the worst films in recent movie history.

[BruiseCruise]

Im pretty sure if TG2 didn't have cruise it would bomb just like ID2

[Ryan Reynolds]

 

[Eric Prime]

It will always baffle me why Fox didn't put in all the money to get back Will Smith for Independence Day 2. It wouldn't have saved...all of that, but it would have at least brought in way more people on its opening to...somewhat justify the expenses made.

[Ozymandias]

OP is missing a very important gif

 

[Macleod]

17 minutes ago, Eric Belcher said:

It will always baffle me why Fox didn't put in all the money to get back Will Smith for Independence Day 2. It wouldn't have saved...all of that, but it would have at least brought in way more people on its opening to...somewhat justify the expenses made.

 

There's no reason to think that they didn't.  Emmerich/Devlin claimed he turned them down after pondering the script/project.  They had two versions of it, with and without him.  But yeah...I suppose they could have offered even more than whatever they did??  We don't quite know...

[grim22]

36 minutes ago, Ryan Reynolds said:

 

 

36 years is almost definitely the record for a legacy sequel with original cast returning in the same roles. BR2049 likely had that record, this would have tied the record if released in 2020 as planned.

[Valonqar]

ID4 sequel and MIB remake didn't have Smith and they bombed. No way that Smith didn't approve of the script. They didn't offer him enough. It's always money. When Marvel decides they need RDJ again, they'll drive a truck with 200M to his doorstep and he'll return. That's how it's done.

[CoolioD1]

On Monday The Firm 2: Back in Business, Another Cocktail and Rain Men are all getting greenlit.

[grim22]

6 minutes ago, CoolioD1 said:

On Monday The Firm 2: Back in Business, Another Cocktail and Rain Men are all getting greenlit.

A legacy sequel I would love to see with Cruise is to The Color Of Money. Cruise plays the Newman role and wins his Oscar.