Box Office

The weekend’s temperatures were as boiling as forecast, but maybe it was precisely the heat that had audiences yearning for some air-conditioned relief inside a cinema: the German-speaking box office held steady despite strong competition from swimming pools and lakes. On a weekend with basically no new releases – save for one sleeper hit – it was up to the expected blockbusters to fill the theaters.

Don’t look for a China release for Thor: Love and Thunder, the seventh Marvel Cinematic Universe film in a row to be banned in China. While the Taika Waititi-directed film opened to a worldwide $300+ million, it is unlikely to be passed by the Chinese censors presumably because of LGBTQ references - the Valkyrie character coming out as bisexual and Korg fathering a child with another male.

Minions: The Rise of Gru is the new number 1 at the box office! Directed by Kyle Balda,Brad Ableson, and Jonathan del Val, the movie is about the dream of a 12-year-old who wants to become the world’s greatest supervillain. For the first week, the movie grossed $8,145,848.

Thor: Love and Thunder thundered globally with $302 million. And also, worldwide, Top Gun: Maverick, Jurassic: World Dominion, and Minions: The Rise of Gru are nearing $1.

Thor, Elvis, Top Gun. A definitely male-dominated box office week comes to an end.

They may have expected more thunder than they got: Thor 4: Love and Thunder made a weaker box office debut than we are used to seeing from superheroes. The real winners, you may have guessed it, were still the little yellow minions.

A goal of the Chinese government is to export domestic films to the rest of the world and thus increase its influence abroad. At the recent Cannes Film Festival, at the China Film Pavilion, one topic of discussion was the international distribution of Chinese films.

A big surprise at the French box office this week: Top Gun: Maverick is such a success in France that the movie is coming back at number 1. Directed by Joseph Kosinski with Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, and Jennifer Connelly, this sequel is about Pete “Maverick” Mitchell who continues to push his limits as a test pilot and in charge of training a detachment of young graduates from the Top Gun school for a special mission that no pilot would have ever imagined.

Those goggle-wearing yellow creatures are indeed rising and expanding their empire, with a record-breaking $129. 2 million four-day debut, the highest Fourth of July box office weekend figures, and toppling the $115.

A rather sluggish week comes to an end for the Italian box office. The total revenues in seven days didn't make it to the 2.