PARA - 'Bullet Train's' $30M opening tracks and 'Maverick' gets a milestone

Sony's ( NYSE: SONY ) Bullet Train kept to a predictable timetable, leading the weekend's domestic box office with a $30.1M opening that was largely in line with some modest expectations. But that suggests a long road to profitability for the $90M production.

The film made its mark in what may be the biggest overall weekend at the movies for a couple of months, with a fairly empty slate ahead until October.

The rest of the top five films were holdovers, meaning that fellow opener Easter Sunday ( NASDAQ: CMCSA ) came in with a disappointing $5.25M, good enough for just eighth place among movies.

Rounding out the top five were DC League of Super-Pets ( WBD ), which drew $11.2M in its second weekend to reach $45.1M cumulative; Nope ( CMCSA ), which added $8.5M in its third week to draw close to a $100M cumulative total; Thor: Love and Thunder ( DIS ), which piled up $7.6M in its fifth week (bringing its cumulative total to $316.1M, and $698.9M worldwide); and Minions: The Rise of Gru ( CMCSA ), adding another $7.1M to hit a total of $334.6M.

Another key number came from the weekend's sixth-ranked film, however. Top Gun: Maverick ( PARA ) ( PARAA ) pulled "just" $7M over the weekend - but that number is huge considering that it's the movie's 11th weekend in theaters, through a tough blockbuster season.

And notably, that was the weekend that drew Top Gun: Maverick past Titanic to become the seventh-highest grossing domestic picture of all time. It's unlikely, but possible, that Maverick can take over the No. 6 slot in this ongoing release: That position is held by Avengers: Infinity War, with $678.8M to Top Gun: Maverick's $662.5M.

Exhibitors are generally higher Monday: AMC Entertainment ( NYSE: AMC ) +12% ; Cineworld ( OTCPK:CNNWF ) -7.7% ; Cinemark ( CNK ) +3.9% ; ( IMAX ) +0.2% ; Marcus ( MCS ) +0.6% ; Reading International ( RDI ) +0.2% ; Cineplex ( OTCPK:CPXGF ) -1.4% ; National CineMedia ( NASDAQ: NCMI ) +5.4% .

Meanwhile, Minions: The Rise of Gru ( CMCSA ) could see a shot in the arm as it's getting a surprisingly sudden Aug. 19 opening in top global box office mainland China .

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