Movie

Neill Blomkamp's sports action drama is projected to outrace the tight competition with $17.3 million at the domestic chart after including ticket sales from preview screenings and fan events over recent weeks.

• Aug 28, 2023

AceShowbiz - "Gran Turismo" finishes first in the latest box office race with an estimated $17.3 million on its opening weekend. The movie based on a popular video game series is declared the champion after a tight competition with "Barbie", which has to settle for second place with approximately $17.1 million.

The ranks could possibly switch when the final tally is revealed on Monday, August 28, with Paul Dergarabedian, a senior Comscore analyst, noting, "We call these estimates for a reason. Only $200,000 separates these two movies, so we'll have to see how things shake out on Monday."

The biographical sports action drama's opening figure includes a sizable $5.3 million from preview screenings and fan events that the studio hosted over recent weeks after Sony pushed back its debut by two weeks. While most studios include Thursday preview grosses in their opening numbers, folding in several weeks of grosses is taking the definition of "weekend" in creative directions.

"I understand why Warner Bros. would be upset," says Jeff Bock, a box office analyst with Exhibitor Relations, about the unusual bit of accounting. "But this game has been going on for some time. They've all been extending the idea of an opening for a long time to include more previews and sneak screenings, but this is more egregious than what other studios have done in the past. They just want a headline saying they're number one."

The Neill Blomkamp-directed pic, which centers around Jann Mardenborough, a young man whose love of the PlayStation video game of the same name enables him to succeed in the world of auto racing, is labeled as a true-story movie. It received mostly positive reviews from critics, with audiences surveyed by CinemaScore giving the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

As for "Barbie", it is close to grossing $600 million stateside, raking in a total of $594.8 million domestically so far. The movie has already surpassed "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" to become the highest-grossing domestic release of 2023.

Meanwhile, "Blue Beetle" falls two places to No. 3 with an estimated $12.8 million after ending the reign of "Barbie" last week. "Oppenheimer" drops another slot to No. 4 with approximately $9 million, followed by "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem" which rounds out the top five with an estimated $6.1 million.

Top 10 of North America Box Office (Aug. 25-27, 2023):

1. "Gran Turismo" - $17.3 million
2. "Barbie" - $17.1 million
3. "Blue Beetle" - $12.8 million
4. "Oppenheimer" - $9 million
5. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem" - $6.1 million
6. "Meg 2: The Trench" - $5.1 million
7. "Strays" - $4.65 million
8. "Retribution" - $3.3 million
9. "The Hill" - $2.5 million
10. "Haunted Mansion" - $2.1 million