Box office: Thunderbolts* holds well enough in a week with no new major films

Also: The King of Kings is now the first Bible movie to be in the top ten for at least five straight weeks since The Passion of the Christ.

L to R: Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Bob (Lewis Pullman), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), and U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell) in Thunderbolts*.

A few of this week’s highlights:

• Thunderbolts* (aka The New Avengers), which got off to a slow start last week, had one of the better second-week holds of any MCU movie this decade.

• Sinners became one of the top twenty R-rated films ever in North America.

• A Minecraft Movie passed Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle to become Jack Black’s top-grossing live-action movie in North America.

• The major studios didn’t release any new films,¹ so indie distributors and mini-majors tried to pick up the slack, but the top new release—slasher flick Clown in a Cornfield—landed in 5th place with only $3.65 million, while the other new wide releases, Shadow Force and Fight or Flight, scored the lowest or 2nd-lowest openings in wide release ever for their directors and/or stars.

• The King of Kings became the first Bible movie to stay in the top ten for five straight weeks since The Passion of the Christ—and, combined with The Chosen and The Last Supper (which both opened in March), it marked the first time ever that there have been Bible movies in the top ten for nine consecutive weeks.

And now, a few more stats and facts re: this week’s top ten, title by title: