CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD | SHADOW FORCE | FIGHT OR FLIGHT openings | Where we are now | May 9 to 11, 2025 weekend

Opening weekend box office, charts and commentary

May 11, 2025

1) Clown in a Cornfield opening

- This is a solid opening for an indie horror film, particularly for a micro-budget production like this (the picture reportedly cost under $1 million to make). Reviews are very good, with a fair audience score (a C+ CinemaScore) — that kind of audience score is common for the genre:

2) Shadow Force opening

- This is a weak opening for an original action thriller. What sets it apart is its accomplished cast led by Kerry Washington and Omar Sy, but Black audiences are enthralled with Sinners right now and there’s very little to elevate the movie.

Critics' reviews are poor but the audience score is good (a B CinemaScore). The film will quickly move from theaters to streaming and try to recoup its est. $40 million production cost there:

3) Fight or Flight opening

- This is a soft opening for an indie action thriller, another genre that struggles at the box office. Critics’ reviews are very good but audiences are lukewarm (a C+ CinemaScore). This movie is passing through theaters on its way to streaming:

Where we are now

- Four minor new releases this weekend (there’s also Juliet and Romeo, a musical romantic drama on 1,350 domestic screens, doing less than $500k over 3 days). No one wanted to take on the 2nd weekend of Marvel’s Thunderbolts. Fortunately, the big titles already in the market are generating solid holdover business (Thunderbolts, plus Sinners and Minecraft), so total moviegoing is respectable.

Next weekend, the box office should get a boost from Final Destination, as summer warms up.

- On Wednesday we’ll look at the Knives Out trilogy. We can't find another movie series that did as well in theaters the first time, and then at the height of its success moved to streaming for episodes #2 and #3.

Our last two posts were:
THE WEDNESDAY CHARTS | April and 2025 year-to-date box office summary | May 7, 2025 here
THUNDERBOLTS* | THE SURFER openings | Superheroes as series | Where we are now | May 2 to 4, 2025 weekend here