“Final Destination Bloodlines,” the sixth installment in the long-running horror property in which people die in increasingly insane incidents, collected a bloody-good $51 million in its opening weekend.
The Warner Bros. and New Line film towered over domestic box office charts, overtaking the No. 1 spot from reigning champion, Marvel’s “Thunderbolts*,” and trouncing fellow newcomer, the Weeknd’s “Hurry Up Tomorrow,” which crash-landed in sixth place.
Buoyed by positive word-of-mouth and the best reviews of the series, the R-rated “Final Destination Bloodlines” shattered the benchmark for the franchise’s biggest debut, outstripping the record held by 2009’s “The Final Destination” with $27 million. It’s been 14 years since the latest “Final Destination” nightmare, 2011’s “Final Destination 5,” opened in theaters.
“Final Destination Bloodlines” earned another $51 million from 74 overseas territories for a remarkable global start of $102 million. The film, directed by Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky, cost roughly $50 million to produce. “Bloodlines” centers on a family who starts dying off one by one because their matriarch was never supposed to survive a horrific event from 50 years ago. Moviegoers granted the movie a “B+” grade on CinemaScore exit polls, which is high praise for such a gruesome, stomach-churning series of on-screen events. Meanwhile, “Bloodlines” boasts a stellar 93% average on Rotten Tomatoes.
“This is a sensational opening for the sixth episode of a horror series,” says analyst David A. Gross of movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “Critic’s reviews are sensational, and the audience score is excellent for horror.”
“Final Destination Bloodlines” is the third consecutive theatrical hit for Warner Bros after April’s blockbusters “A Minecraft Movie” and “Sinners.” It’s a welcome change of pace for the studio following a string of commercial flops, including “Mickey 17,” “The Alto Knights” and “Joker: Folie à Deux.”
Over the weekend, Warner Bros. impressively had three films in the top five. “Sinners” landed in third place with $15.4 million from 3,518 theaters in its fifth weekend of release. The R-rated vampire thriller has generated a mighty $240.8 million domestically and $76 million internationally for a global tally of $316 million to date. At No. 4, “A Minecraft Movie” added $5.9 million from 3,357 venues in its seventh frame. The PG video game adaptation has grossed $416 million in North America and $501 million overseas, bringing its worldwide haul to a mammoth $928 million.
“Hurry Up Tomorrow,” this weekend’s other new release, from Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, wasn’t in danger of cracking the top five on domestic box office charts. Unable to overcome terrible reviews and bad buzz, “Hurry Up Tomorrow” misfired with $3.3 million from 2,020 cinemas. The movie was saddled with a lousy 14% Rotten Tomatoes average and terrible “C-” grade on CinemaScore. Lionsgate released the $15 million-budgeted film in exchange for a distribution fee.
The film, a roman à clef thriller and companion piece to the singer’s studio album of the same name, stars as a fictionalized version of himself, an insomniac musician on the verge of a mental breakdown as he’s pulled into an existential odyssey. Trey Edward Shults (“Waves”) directed “Hurry Up Tomorrow,” which co-stars Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan.
“Thunderbolts*” slid to second place with $16.5 million from 3,523 theaters in its third weekend, declining 50% from its prior outing. The comic book adventure has grossed $155.4 million domestically and $325 million globally. Despite enjoying far better reviews than most recent Marvel entries, “Thunderbolts*” looks like it’ll still struggle to get out of the red. That’s because theater owners get to keep half of ticket sales, and the tentpole cost a hefty $180 million to produce and roughly $100 million to market.
So far, May releases have improved upon last year in terms of ticket sales but have yet to match pre-pandemic times. Domestic revenues are 15% ahead of 2024 though still more than 32% behind 2019, according to Comscore. A counter-programming play of Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch” and Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” should continue to shrink the pre-COVID deficit and heat up the box office over the upcoming Memorial Day holiday weekend.
“Projections are huge,” Gross says in terms of the expected debuts for “Lilo” and “Mission.” “That’s going to jolt the market.”
