How John Carpenter’s 1982 ‘The Thing’ Became a Surprise Entry in This Weekend’s Top Ten

Forget the box office top ten estimated weekend charts published yesterday.

They all left out one film: John Carpenter’s 1982 horror classic “The Thing.” The film, which played in around 730 theaters for a single showtime on Sunday only as a Fathom Events presentation, ended up in the #9 position for the three days with about 500,000 total, per industry sources.Appearances by vintage titles on the top ten was common when theaters reopened after Covid-issued lockdowns and into early 2021, but that an older re-release — much less one with a single showing — could find a place among the biggest grossing films of a June 2022 weekend is a circumstance related to the dearth of films in theatrical release.

Though the combined result of the weekend’s top titles — “Jurassic World: Dominion” (Universal), “Lightyear” (Disney), and “Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount) — ended up with very healthy grosses, there was a steep drop among other 2022 releases.

That

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