Sonic The Hedgehog 2 easily outruns Ambulance at the weekend box office
Everything Everywhere All At Once also continues to fly up the charts
Aux News Sonic The Hedgehog
It has only been two years and two months since the first Sonic The Hedgehog movie opened in theaters, mere weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic shut everything down (it definitely wasn’t Sonic’s fault, right?), and now we have Sonic The Hedgehog 2 speeding its way into theaters. Who ever thought we’d make it to this day? The day when there’s a second Sonic movie lighting up the box office charts and also the pandemic that was merely a twinkle in our collective eye in February of 2020 has become an omnipresent issue that we cannot and will not ever escape?
Anyway, Sonic 2 made $71 million, which is more than the first movie made in its debut. That’s pretty interesting, but as is always the case these days, the other movies that are playing in theaters struggled to make much money of their own. To wit, last week’s winner Morbius fell more than 70 percent, down to $10 million, landing at a total of $57 million after two weeks. Third place went to last week’s runner-up, The Lost City, which fell to $9 million for a total of $68 million after three weeks.
It’s not until fourth place that we get to this weekend’s other high-profile debut, Michael Bay’s Ambulance, which opened to a fairly dismal $8.7 million. That’s bad, but it’s a couple of million dollars ahead of The Batman at least (thought the movie has already made $350 million more than Ambulance). Sixth place went to Everything Everywhere All At Once, which has been rocketing up the charts as it expands its theatrical rollout. It has still only made $8 million total, but that will keep going up as it opens in more places.
The rest of the top 10 is boring (we don’t have much to say about a rerelease of Selena or some movie about a man of spiders), but one amazing thing we’d like to highlight is that Aline, the Jackie Jormp-Jomp biopic about Celine Dion, has apparently been in theaters for 20 weeks and just got an unbelievable bump. Last weekend, while playing in only one theater, it made $24. This week, presumably playing in that same one theater, it made $20,785. That’s an increase of 86,000 percent. The real Celine Dion could only dream of pulling something like that off!
Here’s the full top 10, courtesy of Box Office Mojo and featuring Spider-Man: No Way Home, a movie we should probably mention by name for SEO purposes! We even linked to the review there!
- Sonic The Hedgehog 2
- Morbius
- The Lost City
- Ambulance
- The Batman
- Everything Everywhere All At Once
- Uncharted
- Spider-Man: No Way Home
- Selena
- Sing 2
36 Comments
saw ambulance in imax and thought it was bay’s best film in years, maybe his best period. god bless him for still blowing up real cars and he did some crazy shit with drones.
Wild to read Film Twitter wring hands and melt down over the floppage of Ambulance, a movie by Michael Bay, whose career is entirely composed of shiny garbage loathed by Film Twitter
I dunno. Michael Bay isn’t a *good* auteur, but he is *an* auteur, and we’ve taken an interest in him largely for preservation purposes. You don’t toss away an endangered animal because it humped your leg a few times. And if *Michael Bay* can’t break the franchise stranglehold, fuck, what *can*?
Film Twitter is just convinced that all film franchises are evil, which is hilarious in this case because Michael Bay is responsible for the biggest non-superhero movie franchise of the last decade, and if Ambulance hadn’t flopped he would have turned that into a franchise in a heartbeat.
Not all franchises, just non-Snyder franchises.And if you count memes, then Morbius is the greatest movie in the history of movies.
I mean it is discouraging that non-franchise films are becoming rarer, no?
Yes, but I don’t think the solution is to root for the guy who made six Transformers movies.
i think the point is more that if a populist like bay can’t crack the ‘lower budget movie for adults’ code then we’re truly in trouble.
I am willing to check it out on VOD, and since it’s Universal it and made 8 million it should be on VOD in about 2 and a half weeks.
Sonic 2 was way too long, but pretty good overall. Oh, and Jim Carrey can retire now. You’ve wrung all you can out of the schtick, bro. Even my six year old was like, settle the fuck down. Knuckles Elba was the best part of the movie.
Hey, how’d you get out of my cabinet?
I would’ve gone to see Ambulance, but I heard some of the CGI was really bad.
Is Spider-Man: No Way Home just always going to be playing at theatres now? That thing came out in friggin December, jesus christ. I’ve already seen it at home since.
Obviously Everything was a showcase for Michelle Yeoh, but Stephanie Hsu and Ke Huy Quan were just as good.
Went to see Everything Everywhere All at Once today. It was very good. But the lobby was filled to the brim with children in Sonic memorabilia, and that’s something I’d never have guessed I’d have seen. I didn’t realize he was so relevant still. One kid had Sonic underwear on his head and that made my day.
sonic and shrek are two characters who seemingly exist as icons completely divorced from their own material. it’s neat!
Shrek is love, Shrek is life.
Shrek impregnated Sonic
Sonic and his pals are still very appealing to kids and a lot of them played Sonic Mania when that was released (either on their own initiative or via their parents/older siblings). In addition, Sonic X has gotten heavy rotation on a lot of places since it ended, whether it be streaming services, television, YouTube, or home video. Discotek also recently released Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (in really cool packaging, to boot) and announced a new Blu-ray set for Sonic SatAm.
What I really dig about the Sonic movies is they are They Did The Thing: The Movie. It’s not “Here’s a Resident Evil movie with no RE characters, story, or settings from RE” or “Here’s a Final Fantasy movie with nothing FF in it.” It’s a movie with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Dr. Robotnik (I’m not calling him Eggman!) doing the things they are recognizable for doing.It’s also a testament to the brand and characters when this little girl at my theater, who probably wasn’t even BORN the last time we got new Sonic games (2017), squealed in delight “THAT’S KNUCKLES!” when he showed up. And Idris was HILARIOUS, using that great deadpan hilarious thing he displayed on his Office guest stint.
I totally agree that a lot of the excellence in the Sonic movies is that…it’s actually a Sonic movie haha. They took a movie premise that had really had nothing to do with the games, and Sonic’d the hell out of it; they didn’t try to put their own spin on it, they just did the things Sonic fans know and love and they did them well. I think that’s definitely what sets it apart from an RE or FF: The Spirits Within. But in mild (and begrudging) defense of those movies, RE may have not had any of the iconic protagonists in the first movie (we got zombies and a Licker though!), but it was a movie centered around the exploits of Umbrella Corp experimenting with the T-virus, and it was set in Raccoon City and involved the RPD. And of course they eventually did introduce a lot of fan favorite heroes and villains over the course of however the hell many sequels that followed haha.
The Spirits Within would seem to have nothing FF in it, but it’s important to remember that up to that point every mainline FF game was a completely new story that took place in a different universe from the others. I don’t think it was until FFXII that a main game was shown to be in the same continuity as another FF game (in this case FF Tactics) without being directly tied to its plot like FFX-2 was to FFX. Spirits Within was definitely more of a jarring visual and narrative departure than we were used to with the series, but it still included two of the things that tied most FF games together: 1) Some collection of artifacts (whether some sort of crystals, or the energy bundles they call “spirits” in the movie) that are the key, or at least very important to remedying the main conflict, and 2) A major character named Sid/Cid haha.
Well, we just got a Resident Evil movie with RE characters last year and it was pretty bad.
It’s a movie with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Dr. Robotnik (I’m not calling him Eggman!) doing the things they are recognizable for doing.This is what they should have done for Warcaft too. Have familiar characters that everyone already knows, instead of a few references to characters that were barely in the game universe when the movie came out. At least one franchise got it right.
Everything is a terrible movie. Walked out after an hour, only the second time I’ve ever done that. I was rooting for everyone and everything about that movie, but I couldn’t fake it through. It is unwatchable, unless nonstop exposition and narrative switches that don’t make sense is your jam.
Then you missed the turning point in Act 2 where all that shit starts forming the actual thesis of the film. But hey you have a dumb story for the rest of your life now.
Ah, the always rewarding “it’ll make sense if you just wait for another hour of explanation” trope. Gosh, I just feel so dumb for not being patient enough for the stupid to make sense in the end.By the way, who hurt you? I swear my opinion wasn’t the culprit.
They never explain anything about how the universe jumping is happening. What they do is establish how it was a family drama all along. And how life is a constant fight against Nihilism. All while being the most creative and wild film in recent memory. You don’t have to like it or even understand it but you never actually watched it so your opinion is worthless.And if I can sit through all of Ultraviolet with the audio about 2 seconds out of sync you can give a film that’s trying something new it’s full not even overlong runtime.
Nah. It was annoying as hell.
did you atleast read the wiki on what you missed. I think the back half of the movie sells it. I had a early love to ehh 1/3 into the movie. By the time the crazy stuff came in i was middling…then the daughter part sold me but i still had a few moments that the movie took me out of it. Finally all the ending and meta stuff (done way better than matrix 4) pushed me to think i liked it. I also figured no one would like it much but the opposite happen online. That said, I think its really only for people who want this type of thing. If you want something more grounded or explained softly as in not exposition dumbs as a joke or crazy stunts for fun laughs but also mixed in with late second heart felt messaging then your not gonna like it. Especially if you didnt even get far enough to the heart felt stuff and main message. The last half of the movie explains everything and it all comes together more. Also hope you didnt leave at the first ahem…you know what…if you know…cause that wasnt the you know what and their is…you know after.
What do you mean they never explain the universe jumping…lol the wacky stuff they do in the movie they explain it as doing something so off putting that the rules of the universe come into play allowing you an opportunity to when using the device…jump due to the universe your in not exhibiting the quality such as eating someone elses boogers…you were never supposed or expected to do that…as an adult so she gained the power to leap. I think on paper the ideas are fairly simple and people like to conflate it as this impossible to understand premise cause idk. Not saying its unoriginal in fact I think the opposite but for those afraid they wont “get it” its easy to narrow down. They explain stuff in the movie. And even if you don’t get that entirely, the family drama is the main point with the nilism overcoming being the sauce that makes it unusual and so liked since we don’t discuss that topic much in mainstream movies. Its akin to the end of evangilion feelings of depression over seeing your world and just giving up till you figure out there’s still something worth struggling for even if some things you hate. Yeah the first 1/3 lulls you into a simple drama and doesn’t sell you since you expect the crazy but that’s all set up i think we in the give it to me now generation aren’t used to but ill be fair and say it can be boring…then the crazy stuff sets in and it gets wacky so i can see someone getting up and saying ehh it was a dumb indie darling…but stay a bit longer and the wacky makes sense and maybe a few jokes linger but overall its a good unique movie after people moan about multiverse of madness and marvel soaking up cleverness in cinema. everything’s safe yet i wont watch the challenging or different movies.
I meant the real basis of the tech and how the fuck they can send Jump pads to another universe. It’s not supposed to make sense though just justify the story. Wasn’t a knock on the movie I appreciated that it wasn’t over explained like the other commenter was bitching about.
Ahh, gotcha. Yeah the movie sorta over explained stuff you didnt really need explaining and one offed the tech, I assume due to what you and others stated, like the don’t explain time travel ideal in movies about time travel, since the more you explain the more people will poke holes. Having people come up with reasoning is much easier since well fill holes with interpretations. I interpreted that you do something weird that that universe’s person would never do, thus the program gets a ping and an opening for you to fix that, by jumping to another opening universe with the % chance you succeed increasing the weirder the thing you do and the more your able to use the power as someone who is the null (eveln) she is so useless she can jump all over, like the fork in the road, and you didnt choose a path yet so all choices are available. She and others jump and the further you jump the more branches, and more weird due to being so off from the main normal universe, but even the normal universe we live in is weird to someone who IDK, grew in a world where people are mostly born twins. Anyway, I think its all alot of downloading personalities and stuff, but made cooler with multiverse. Im sure plenty of movies came out that had a premise like this, its all about how you execute or dress it up. Hope multiverse of madness lives up to the title for many people like this movie.
What do you mean they never explain the universe jumping…lol the wacky stuff they do in the movie they explain it as doing something so off putting that the rules of the universe come into play allowing you an opportunity to when using the device…jump due to the universe your in not exhibiting the quality such as eating someone elses boogers…you were never supposed or expected to do that…as an adult so she gained the power to leap. I think on paper the ideas are fairly simple and people like to conflate it as this impossible to understand premise cause idk. Not saying its unoriginal in fact I think the opposite but for those afraid they wont “get it” its easy to narrow down. They explain stuff in the movie. And even if you don’t get that entirely, the family drama is the main point with the nilism overcoming being the sauce that makes it unusual and so liked since we don’t discuss that topic much in mainstream movies. Its akin to the end of evangilion feelings of depression over seeing your world and just giving up till you figure out there’s still something worth struggling for even if some things you hate. Yeah the first 1/3 lulls you into a simple drama and doesn’t sell you since you expect the crazy but that’s all set up i think we in the give it to me now generation aren’t used to but ill be fair and say it can be boring…then the crazy stuff sets in and it gets wacky so i can see someone getting up and saying ehh it was a dumb indie darling…but stay a bit longer and the wacky makes sense and maybe a few jokes linger but overall its a good unique movie after people moan about multiverse of madness and marvel soaking up cleverness in cinema. everything’s safe yet i wont watch the challenging or different movies.
i don’t think it’s bad, loved the daniels’ other movie, happy it’s connecting with people, stoked a small movie like this is doing so well, but man it felt like being trapped with an annoying guy at a party.
Tried to see EEAAO this weekend, and it was sold out! I was disappointed that I could not see it but delighted that it’s doing so well. I’ll plan farther ahead this weekend. (I did stream After Yang, and that was beautiful.)
“thought the movie”…? Do you guys read anything before posting?