Unlike just about every other summer, this summer there were no 9-figure-budgeted tentpole disasters, no event films that arrived stillborn at the cineplex. Which is all to say that the summer of 2022 can be understood as the Summer of (Almost) No Flops https://t.co/F57hpwYHRZ

— Chris Lee (@__ChrisLee) September 2, 2022

In the underperformer department, that only leaves the late-inning Summer of Almost No Flops entry Bullet Train — the Brad Pitt–led ensemble action-comedy also featuring Bad Bunny, Joey King, Brian Tyree Henry, and Andrew Koji as train-bound assassins with competing agendas — which hit theaters August 5. It has grossed $174.9 million worldwide (versus its $100 million price tag and at least $50 million in prints and advertising-related costs) to just squeak into profitability, narrowly avoiding becoming its distributor Sony’s first money loser since Peter Rabbit 2 in June 2021. There’s no way to say Bullet Train didn’t come up financially short, but as Bock sees it, this is still no Pluto Nash.

“Yes, Sony was certainly expecting a lot more out of this film and it’s not going to pull any sort of Top Gun,” Bock says, referring to how the Tom Cruise sequel is now poised to potentially reclaim the top spot at the box office this weekend as newly released movies squeeze to a halt. “It’s not an outright bomb. Again, it’s in the gray zone. They at Sony have a deal with Netflix. So I’m sure it’ll be No. 1 on Netflix in a few weeks.”