‘Free Guy’ Breaks Out With $28.4 Million as ‘Suicide Squad’ Collapses in its Second Week

Disney’s “Free Guy” broke free of expectations on and off the screen.

It grossed $28.4 million, beating projections by more than 40 percent.

It was one of three new wide releases and the only one to stand out.

What propelled the Ryan Reynolds comedy, and held back “Don’t Breathe 2” ($10.6 million) and “Respect” ($8.8 million), suggests how different audiences respond to the Delta variant and provides key insight about what audiences want.North American theaters will gross around $75 million this weekend.

That’s $10 million more than last weekend, which improves our rolling four-week 2019 comparison from 44 percent to 51 percent.On the AMC earnings call this week, CEO Adam Aron said his company would have a positive cash flow for Q4 2021 if domestic grosses for 2021 reached $5.2 million.

Going forward, that means each week until December 31 would need to gross about 80 percent of the same week in 2019.“Free Guy” cost more than $100 million, marketing not included.

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