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Gran Turismo ruled the box office over the weekend with just $17.3 million. It’s worth noting that Sunday was $4 movie day in the US, which must have affected sales. We saw Gran Turismo on Saturday, which I assumed was $4 movie day. (I don’t know how I screwed that up, but at least the theater wasn’t packed.) I truly loved that film. If you like cheesy over-the-top action movies I think you’ll enjoy it too. I learned a lot about car racing and was thoroughly entertained. It was super heavy handed at times, but it delivered and had so much heart. You can see this in the Rotten Tomatoes score. Audiences gave it 98% but critics rated it just 61%. Here’s more on Gran Turismo’s box office. It finally beat Barbie.
Sony’s late-summer event pic Gran Turismo declared victory at the weekend box office race with a $17.3 million domestic opening, a somewhat muted start for a movie based on a popular video game. The hope now is that an A CinemaScore from audiences will provide a turbo boost in the days to come.
Directed by Neill Blomkamp, the racing pic had been set to launch nationwide on Aug. 11 but switched gears because of the actors strike and the resulting prohibition on the cast — led by Orlando Bloom and David Harbour — doing any press. The studio instead hosted two weekends of sneaks and a handful of fan screenings to build buzz before opening the movie everywhere on Aug. 25.
The opening number includes a hefty $3.9 million in grosses from those previous sneaks. It’s hardly the first time that a Hollywood studio has added such grosses to an opening weekend number, but the early Gran Turismo screenings were more robust than is the norm.
Many of you are going to roll your eyes at a video game movie, but it’s based on the true story of a gamer-turned-professional race car driver. It was just the type of movie I love seeing in the theater. When they showed the kid it was based on at the end the movie and all the small details from his life they wove in I lost it. It’s surprisingly directed by Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium, both excellent scifi films) and it shows. Star Archie Madekwe, 28, was so good and it also stars David Harbour, Orlando Bloom and Djimon Hounsou.
I looked up how the true story of Jann Mardenborough differed from the movie. There are too many spoilers in that discussion so I’m not excerpting it. While they definitely took liberties with the timeline, a lot of the key plot points are true. Anyway I’m rooting for this movie to get a sequel so go see it if you like action films. This has been such a great summer for movies and if you haven’t seen Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem yet I highly recommend that one too.
I’m a race fan and went to see it. I loved it. The racing scenes were fantastic. The driver who this story is about did some of the race scenes. I may go back and see it again.
What a surprise winner at the box office for this film. I’d heard of it because David Harbour is in it but the trailer looked good too. And yes! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was so good! I loved it and look forward to seeing it again at home.
Blue Beetle beat out barbie last weekend, too. Not that that is a huge deal, barbie has kicked sooooo much butt all over the world. But Blue Beetle was cute and funny, and unlike any other DC comic movie, and it’s a bummer that they’re probably going to scrap this character
Was coming here to note about Blue Beetle as well, but it is worth noting that Barbie pulled more money in its sixth week of release. That’s still mighty impressive
I feel bad for Xolo Maridueña that he couldn’t promote this and yes his character will probably get scrapped in the current overhaul. He is such a charming actor and deserves better.
Watched it last Saturday and loved it! Learned a lot about racing too.
So glad to hear this! I first saw Archie Madekwe in AppleTV’s See, and thought he was fantastic… so glad his career has jumped to the next level!
I really hope whoever tallies the box-office numbers nips this weeks of sneak previews being rolled into opening weekend box office. Those previews were almost a quarter of the total! So much promo is based on being number one on opening weekend. It’s already slightly shady, but this needs to be stopped.