My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 Wins Third Place At The Box Office With $9.5 Million Opening Weekend
Based on Nia Vardalos' one-woman play of the same name, the 2002 indie romcom "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is one of the most astonishing box office tales in cinema history. It ranked in 20th place at the domestic box office on its opening weekend, but four months later it had climbed its way up to No. 2. It played in theaters for an entire year and ultimately grossed $374.8 million at the worldwide box office. Not bad for a movie made for just $5 million.
21 years later, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3" has landed in theaters. This time Vardalos is behind the camera as director, as well as returning to star alongside John Corbett, the original groom of the original big fat Greek wedding. Per Deadline, the Focus Features film grossed $3.7 million on Friday and is heading for an estimated $9.5 million weekend. That's less than "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2" scored in its 2016 debut, but could be a decent enough start depending on what the budget for this sequel was.
The box office isn't as kind to romcoms in 2023 as it was in 2002, and studios have adjusted their release strategies accordingly. With most romantic comedies now sent straight to streaming, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3" might end up being the highest-grossing theatrically-released romcom of 2023 by default.
A very short list of 2023's theatrically-released romcoms
"My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3" has already passed "Love Again" (featuring Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Sam Heughan, and Celine Dion) at the domestic box office, which means its only remaining competition among the romcoms already released is "Magic Mike's Last Dance" ($8.3 million opening weekend, $57.1 million worldwide total). Upcoming rivals for the top spot are the Meg Ryan/David Duchovny match-up "What Happens Later," the Sydney Sweeney/Glen Powell enemies-to-lovers pairing of "Anyone But You," and — depending on how far you're willing to stretch the definition — "Cat Person," which stars Emilia Jones and Cousin Greg and is based on that short story in the New Yorker that everyone was arguing about for a week back in 2017.
The opening weekend for "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3" is running just ahead of "Magic Mike's Last Dance," which means it could close out with a similar total by the end of its run. "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2" scored a $17.8 million opening weekend in 2016 and grossed $90.6 million worldwide, making it a modest success against its $18 million production budget. The budget for "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3" hasn't been revealed publicly yet. Overall, though, the diminishing returns make it unlikely we'll see "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 4."
As for 2023's romcom rankings, its biggest threat besides Michael "Magic Mike" Lane is probably "Anyone But You," which got a lot of buzz during filming thanks to paparazzi shots of Sweeney and Powell hanging around on a boat being really, really, really, ridiculously good-looking. That sort of thing can go a long way.