With $16 million, ‘The Bad Guys’ leads a quiet weekend at the box office

Another weekend, another Liam Neeson action film hits theatres.

“Memory,” the actor’s nth COVID-era caper to hit the big screen, debuted to $3.1 million from 2,555 North American theatres over the weekend. Its eighth-place finish is a poor showing, but it compares favourably to Neeson’s recent box office hits “Blacklight” ($3.6 million debut), “Honest Thief” ($3.6 million debut), and “The Marksman” ($3.1 million debut).

Because “Memory,” from Open Road Films and Briarcliff Entertainment, is the only new nationwide release, last weekend’s champion “The Bad Guys” reigned supreme. The Universal Pictures animated heist comedy grossed $16.1 million from 4,042 venues in its second outing, increasing its domestic total to $44.4 million.

“Mr. Neeson’s pre-pandemic crime pics did well, including the successful ‘Taken’ series, but audiences are showing little interest now,” says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. At the same time, there appears to be a very loyal demographic that is willing to return time and time again to watch the hulking Neeson avenge someone’s death.

“Memory,” directed by Martin Campbell (“Casino Royale”), follows Liam Neeson as an assassin suffering from Alzheimer’s illness. The picture, which has a 30% on Rotten Tomatoes, has been dubbed a “retread” of classic Neeson roles by Variety’s Peter Debruge. “At the end of the day, ‘Memory’ isn’t terribly convincing,” Debruge observed, “but it’s at least going for something more serious than most.”

Overall, theatres have been quiet this weekend as Hollywood prepares for the release of Disney’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” on Friday. The Marvel film, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and set after the events of “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” is predicted to gross a lot of money at the box office. Until then, the box office was rounded out by a few holdovers.