‘Arthur The King’ Seizes $825K In Previews; ‘Kung Fu Panda 4’ To Reign Supreme With $30M+ Second Weekend – Friday AM Box Office
15.03.2024 - 17:19
/ deadline.com
In a frame that will see Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 4 rally with a second weekend take of around $30M (-48%), three wide entries hit cinemas, the biggest being Lionsgate’s Mark Wahlberg canine sports movie Arthur the King with an eye on $8M-$10M at 3,003 locations. The movie directed by Simon Cellan Jones made $825K in previews last night, which bests the $550K previews made by Wahlberg’s 2018 movie, Instant Family, that movie opening in a very pre-pandemic, pre Thanksgiving period to $14.5M.
Rotten Tomatoes reviews are at 63% fresh, but the portal’s audiences love Arthur the King more at 93%.
Based on a true story, pic takes plays during a ten day pro adventure race of 435 miles as Michael Light (Wahlberg) bonds with scrappy street dog Arthur. Light, desperate for one last chance to win, convinces a sponsor to back him and a team of athletes (Simu Liu, Nathalie Emmanuel, and Ali Suliman) for the Adventure Racing World Championship in the Dominican Republic. As the team is pushed to their outer limits of endurance in the race, Arthur redefines what victory, loyalty and friendship truly mean.
The $19M feature production, as Deadline first reported, saw its domestic rights move from Paramount Players to Lionsgate. Pic’s offshore rights were sold during the Covid Cannes virtual via One-backed international sales firm Sierra/Affinity. Entertainment One (eOne) and Tucker Tooley Entertainment co-financed.
A24’s Sundance Film Festival premiere, Love Lies Bleeding, expands to 1,300 theaters this weekend from five NYC and LA sites with an eye at $2M. The Lesbian crime noir is 92% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie made $167K last weekend for a per theater of $33,5K. The Rose Glass directed,