Gran Turismo had its official opening weekend in the USA this weekend, coinciding with National Cinema Day, and perhaps a little surprisingly took top spot according to Sony’s figures.
Thanks to an unusual situation which has seen the film postponed by two weeks, Gran Turismo has actually been available in preview screenings since the original August 11. Sony Pictures has folded in this advanced take with the official opening weekend to arrive at a figure of $17.4m in the USA.
That’s just enough to knock Barbie off the top spot, which recorded an estimated $17.1m over the weekend alone, cruising up to a $592.8m domestic box office and $1.34bn globally.
Rounding out the top three is the latest DC flick Blue Beetle, which, amid uncertainty whether it would be the final DC Extended Universe (DCEU) film before that’s tied off and rebooted as James Gunn’s DC Universe (DCU) or a prologue to the new series, lumbered up to $46.3m in the USA ($81.8m globally) with a weekend take of $12.8m.
With a variety of release dates depending on market — the UK’s British Film Institute logs August 11-13 as Gran Turismo’s opening weekend — the story based on Jann Mardenborough‘s remarkable journey from gamer to Le Mans racer is now up to $53.8 million worldwide.
It’s not the most rapid start for the film, likely affected by both the delay and lack of promotional activity from the movie’s cast — as a consequence of the SAG-AFTRA strike — and by some middling critical reviews.
Among the paying public though, Gran Turismo has been significantly better received. On review aggregator site Metacritic the film gets a 7.7 score from site users, while on Rotten Tomatoes it’s netted a 98% rating.
That’s backed up by audience polling concern CinemaScore, which gives Gran Turismo an “A”, alongside blockbuster titles like Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part 1 and Oppenheimer.
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