June 2024 box office preview: ‘Inside Out 2’ and ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ lead a month with few strong offerings
May ended up being more than a bit of a letdown at the box office, yet the summer movie season continues on with three more major franchise sequels (or prequels) and a few other attempts at variety. Read on for Gold Derby’s June 2024 box office preview.
“Inside Out 2” (Disney/Pixar – June 14)
Disney and Pixar Animation are hoping to make a comeback with this sequel to Pete Docter‘s 2015 Oscar-winning animated blockbuster, which grossed $850.6 million worldwide after opening with $90.4 million domestically. Directed by Kelsey Mann, the sequel introduces a number of new emotions including Anxiety, voiced by Maya Hawke, Envy voiced by Emmy winner Ayo Edebiri, Paul Walter Hauser voicing Embarassment, and Adèle Exarchopoulos as Ennui (because it’s a French emotion). Mindy Kaling‘s Disgust has also been recast with Liza Lapira from “The Equalizer.” In the “before times,” there was little reason for this not to open with more than $100 million, but how much more. $20 million? $30 million? More? 2018’s “Incredibles 2” opened with $182.7 million and the following year, “Toy Story 4” opened with $120.9 million, so maybe somewhere in between those two? That would make this the first movie to open over $100 million this year, if that does indeed happen.
“A Quiet Place: Day One” (Paramount – June 28)
Following the success of the John Krasinski-directed thrillers from 2018 and 2021, Paramount shifts to prequel mode with this earlier tale, directed by Michael Sarnoski (“Pig”) and starring Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff and Djimon Hounsou, reprising his role from “A Quiet Place Part II.” The popularity of the previous two movies both in theaters and on streaming makes this one of the more anticipated movies of the summer, and it should launch the last weekend of the month with upwards of $55 to 60 million or more.
“Bad Boys: Ride or Die” (Sony – June 7)
Just over four years after their last outing as Miami police detectives Lowry and Burnett, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence return for their fourth movie together and second directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. The previous installment, “Bad Boys for Life,” opened with $62.5 million over the MLK Jr. weekend in 2020. Even with COVID shutting down theaters, it became the highest-grossing film of that year with just $204.4 million. This will be a good test to see whether Smith’s fanbase cares about the world-famous Oscars slap that occurred mere minutes before he won his first Oscar as an actor for King Richard in 2022. We’ll have more about this in next week’s weekend preview on Wednesday, but it’s very likely that this can also open with $50 million or more.
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“Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter One” (Warner Bros. – June 28)
Kevin Costner directs his latest Western, this one a giant Civil War saga that is said to take place over four movies, the first two chapters out this summer. “Chapter One” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival a few weeks back but received harsh reviews, which might make this one a tough to sell, but Costner’s older male fanbase, and an impressive ensemble cast should get the curious into theaters for Costner’s first Western since 2003’s “Open Range,” which opened with $14 million in a late summer release. “Horizon” should be able to open slightly higher than that.
“The Watchers” (Warner Bros – June 7)
2nd generation filmmaker Ishana Night Shyamalan makes her feature film directorial debut with this eerie thriller starring Dakota Fanning as a young woman whose car breaks down in the woods where she encounters a trio of people hiding out in a cabin from a mysterious group of “Watchers” who may have malevolent intentions. Opening against the latest “Bad Boys” movie won’t be doing this one any favors, but strong trailers focusing on the eeriness of the concept should make it good for an opening in the $10 to $15 million range, benefitting from its PG-13 rating.
“Kalki 2898 AD” (Vyjayanthi Movies – June 27)
Nag Ashwin‘s Telugu-language sci-fi action movie stars Prabhas as a modern-day avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu who comes to earth to protect against evil forces.There hasn’t been that many high-profile Bollywood (or Tollywood) films in the last few months, but this is reportedly the most expensive movie produced in India, and the starpower Prabhas built from starring in S.S. Rajamouli‘s “Baahubali” movies should help this one open in the Top 10 later in the month.
“Blue Lock The Movie -Episode Nagi- ” (Crunchyroll – June 28)
Crunchyroll’s “Anime of the Month” is a feature based on Muneyuk Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura‘s serialized manga which was turned into the “Blue Lock” TV anime, this being Crunchyroll’s second sports-related anime feature in a row. It centers around a high schooler named Nagi, whose classmate discovers his hidden skills playing soccer and invites him to join the mysterious “Blue Lock” project. Anime has generally not been doing that great in theaters, other than ones based on bigger name franchises, so we’ll have to see how this fares, especially against the “Quiet Place” prequel.
“The Bikeriders” (Focus Features – June 21)
Filmmaker Jeff Nichols (“Loving”) returns with this drama set within the world of the Vandals motorcycle club with Jodie Comer playing Kathy, a woman drawn to Austin Butler‘s Benny, despite the violence in his life, forcing him to choose between Kathy and the club. Also starring Tom Hardy, Mike Faist from “Challengers,” and more, this movie was supposed to be released by 20th Century in 2023, but was picked up by Focus after the other studio balked. It’s a smaller entry this month but should be good for $8 to $10 million or more opening weekend.
“Kinds of Kindness” (Searchlight – June 21)
Three months after winning her second Oscar, Emma Stone reunited with “Poor Things” director Yorgos Lanthimos for this quirky triptych film, co-starring Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Hong Chau, and more. It also premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to positive reviews (and an acting award for Plemons) and considering the popularity of the filmmaker and cast, it shouldn’t be too surprising if this ends up expanding nationwide sometime after its limited release.
“The Exorcism” (Vertical – June 21)
Russell Crowe stars in Joshua John Miller‘s horror-thriller about a troubled actor who begins showing disruptive behavior while making a horror film, causing his estranged daughter to wonder if he’s returning to his old addictions. The project co-stars Ryan Simpkins, Sam Worthington, Chloe Bailey, Adrian Pasdar and David Hyde Pierce, and it might be released fairly wide.
“Janet Planet” (A24 – June 21 limited, June 28 wide)
Julianne Nicholson stars in this quirky indie drama from first-time filmmaker Annie Baker, which mostly follows her troubled tween daughter Lacy, as played by Zoe Ziegler. Originally, A24 was going to give this a wide release, but now, they’re going to give the movie a limited release first and see how that goes.
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After that, we have a bunch of limited releases, although we’re seeing so many of these being released wider with so few other options in theaters.
“Longing” (Lionsgate – June 7)
Richard Gere stars in Savi Gabizon‘s adaptation of his own award-winning Israeli movie of the same name, playing businessman Daniel Bloch, who discovers that he had a 20-year-old son from a prior relationship, who died in a car accident. It also stars Diane Kruger as a teacher, with whom his son had a crush.
“Tuesday” (A24 – June 7)
Daina Oniunas-Pusic‘s directorial debut is a fantasy film, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a mother who has to confront Death (Arinzé Kene) with her ailing daughter in the form of a talking bird. Like “Janet Planet,” this is also expected to expand wider after its limited release.
“Ghostlight” (IFC Films – June 14)
Kelly O’Sullivan‘s dramedy involves a construction worker who joins a local theater production of “Romeo and Juliet,” only to find it mirroring his own life.
“Treasure” (Bleecker Street – June 14)
Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry star as a reporter and her elderly Holocaust surviving father, who returns to Poland for him to visit his childhood home and to visit Auschwitz in this dramedy from German filmmaker, Julia von Heinz, which will also play at the Tribeca Festival this month.
“Thelma” (Magnolia – June 21)
June Squibb plays the 93-year-old title character in Josh Margolin‘s action-comedy that has the nonagenarian being scammed out of $10,000 and deciding to get her money back with the help of her friend (Richard Roundtree). This well-received Sundance premiere also stars Fred Hechinger, Parker Posey and Clark Gregg.
“Firebrand” (Roadside Attractions – June 21)
Karim Aïnouz‘s historic drama stars Oscar winner Alicia Vikander as King Henry VIII’s sixth wife, Katherine Parr, who becomes regent when the king (played by Jude Law) travels abroad and finds herself trying to survive when he returns.
“Daddio” (Sony Pictures Classics – June 28)
Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn star in Christy Hall‘s drama about a woman taking a cab ride from JFK who gets into a conversation with her taxi driver. It premiered last year at the Telluride and Toronto (TIFF) Film Festivals.
“Mother, Couch” (Film Movement – June 28)
Niclas Larsson‘s drama, which also premiered at TIFF last year, stars Ewan McGregor, Rhys Ifans and Lara Flynn Boyle as three siblings brought together when their mother (Ellen Burstyn) refuses to budge from a furniture store couch where she’s camped out. The movie also stars Taylor Russell, F. Murray Abraham and Lake Bell.
That’s it for June, but check back every Wednesday for more details on the movies being released each weekend.
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