Box Office: Hilary Swank’s ‘Ordinary Angels’ and ‘Drive-Away Dolls’ Target Single Digit Debuts as Theaters Anxiously Await ‘Dune 2’

Drive-Away Dolls, was unable to be released under its original moniker: “Drive-Away Dykes.”“It was something just for commercial reasons,” adds Tricia Cooke, who co-wrote the film with Coen and edited the finished product. “There are movie theaters that won’t release the movie with that title and the MPA [Motion Picture Association] kind of dictates what your title can be.

LOS ANGELES — As Universal Pictures prepared for a big night at the Academy Awards with “Oppenheimer,” the studio also celebrated the No. 1 debut of “Kung Fu Panda 4,” which collected $58.3 million in domestic theaters over the weekend, according to estimates Sunday.“Kung Fu Panda 4,” the first film in the DreamWorks Animation franchise since the third installment in 2016, got off to a better start than all but the 2008 original.

After a successful return as a physical event last year, Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (Filmart, March 11-14) is taking place again this year against a complicated backdrop, both in terms of market realities and the shifting geopolitics of the region. 

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Dune: Part Two” is turbocharging the international box office. Director Denis Villeneuve’s otherworldly sequel has generated $97 million from 71 overseas markets, bringing its global tally to a promising $178.5 million. Those worldwide revenues include $81.5 million from North American theaters, where it landed the biggest domestic opening weekend of the year.

FRIDAY UPDATE: Dune: Part Two added 42 international box office markets on Thursday, taking the offshore cume on the Denis Villeneuve-directed sequel to $20.8M in a total 55. This includes two full-days of play and previews in those markets.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor UTA is tucking a small acquisition into its marketing division: The company announced the acquisition of JUV Consulting, a marketing, creative services and research agency that helps clients target Gen Z consumers. The JUV operations, to be rebranded as Next Gen, will become a new practice within UTA’s entertainment marketing division. About a dozen of JUV Consulting’s employees will join UTA, including CEO Ziad Ahmed (pictured above), working at UTA’s offices in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.

UPDATED FRIDAY AM, POST EXCLUSIVE: Legendary/Warner Bros Dune Part Two has now grown to $12M+ per Warners. That’s from 4,500 locations, and Imax alone delivered $4.5M of that number or 38%. Of that preview figure, $2M came from an Imax fan screening on Feb. 25. Audience reactions have hit Rotten Tomatoes and they’re at 95%, which is great. Denis Villeneuve’s first Dune saw 83% certified fresh from RT critics and 90% from RT audiences.

Naman Ramachandran Paramount’s “Bob Marley: One Love” topped the U.K. and Ireland box office for the second consecutive weekend with £2.3 million ($3 million), according to numbers from Comscore. The biopic now has a total of £11.3 million after its second weekend on release.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Paramount’s musical biopic “Bob Marley: One Love” ruled again over a barren box office landscape. The film added $13.5 million from 3,925 North American theaters in its second weekend of release, a 53% decline from its debut. “One Love” has been a surprise box office success with $71.1 million domestically and $100 million globally.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.The action flick, based on a manga series, opened in theaters on Feb. 2.It managed to beat out “Bob Marley: One Love,” which moved down to second place this week with sales of $3.7 million.The biopic, based on the life of the famous Reggae singer-songwriter, has taken in over $100 million globally since its Valentine’s Day release.“Ordinary Angels,” starring Hilary Swank, landed in third with a $2.3 million-dollar take.The film, which Variety said “tugs at the heartstrings,” is based on a true story of a Kentucky hairdresser who helped a widower whose daughter needed a liver transplant during a blizzard.The suspense thriller “Madame Web,” which was in second place last week, fell to fourth, taking in $1.575 million.

Hail, Caesar!, the Coens’ last proper comedy. After that, they made the Western anthology film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, then went their separate ways.Joel went full Shakespeare in 2021 with The Tragedy of Macbeth, an expressionistic exercise that was never quite more than the sum of its parts, while his brother took a hiatus from narrative filmmaking.

J. Kim Murphy Paramount’s “Bob Marley: One Love” will retain its holding as the top film on domestic charts this weekend, besting a trio of new releases in the manga adaptation “Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba — To the Hashira Training,” the faith-based Hilary Swank drama “Ordinary Angels” and Ethan Coen’s lesbian crime caper “Drive-Away Dolls.” “One Love” added $3.7 million to its domestic haul on Friday, marking a modest 51% drop from its gross seven days ago. After opening on Valentine’s Day, the Bob Marley biopic has now earned a solid $61 millionacross its first 10 days in North American theaters.

FRIDAY EVENING: Paramount’s Bob Marley: One Love remains on uppers at the weekend box office with a $3.6M Friday, and a 3-day of $13.4M at 3,597 theaters, -53% which will get the Reinaldo Marcus Green directed title to $71M by Sunday. That’s a great piece of counterprogramming business in a struggling marketplace. Say what you will, S&P Global about putting Paramount Global on “credit watch negative,” but the film studio has a vibrant theatrical release schedule this year with Gladiator 2, Quiet Place: Day, If and Smile 2 to name a few.

Miley Cyrus makes a surprise cameo in the new movie Drive-Away Dolls, and the team shared a funny story about casting her in the role.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor SPOILER ALERT: This article continues spoilers for the film “Drive-Away Dolls.” In Ethan Coen‘s “Drive-Away Dolls,” an homage to the colorful, brash world of exploitation cinema, there’s a notable cameo from none other than Miley Cyrus. Cyrus appears in a psychedelic swirl of flashbacks as Tiffany Plastercaster, seen titillating a college-aged version of Matt Damon’s character, who will come to be a conservative Senator in Florida.

Since 2019, a production company by the name of Kingdom Story has set about establishing itself as something of a player in the crowded field of faith-based entertainment, having dipped its toe into the world of film by adapting a handful of true-life narratives and soon-to-be-released original content, all of which have seen unexpectedly wide release thanks mainly to a partnership with media giant Lionsgate. Covering a range of topics from Christian music biopics to the life of former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner, “Ordinary Angels” easily finds a spot on the list, with a premise inspired by actual events that appear perfect for the Kingdom Story family tree but without the tendency to drift into the realm of heavy-handed messages one might be expecting.

Brent Lang Executive Editor In what is shaping up to be a muted weekend at the box office, Sony and Crunchyroll’s “Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba -To the Hashira Training” earned $1.8 million in Thursday previews, while Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company’s inspirational drama “Ordinary Angels” picked up a paltry $285,000. The weekend’s other new release, Focus Features’ comedic thriller “Drive-Away Dolls,” didn’t report preview grosses, which does not augur well for its commercial prospects. Despite the influx of movies, “Bob Marley: One Love” is expected to retain its spot at No.

Pedro Pascal or Matt Damon turn, you won’t find it in “Drive-Away Dolls.” Qualley is the closest here to a standout. Her energetic personality pops, even if her over-the-top character is something out of “SpongeBob: After Dark.” Viswanathan, on the other hand, has been giving the same side-eye, dry, “I’d rather not” performance since 2018’s “Blockers.” Her consistency has begun to feel rote and clinical.The arc of Marian and Jamie’s companionship is as predictable as Old Faithful, and the warm conclusion unearned.“Dolls” is, of course, meant to be lighter than air.

There will be more wide releases at the box office this weekend –three, in fact– but they’re not expected to make a dent before Legendary/Warner Bros.’ Dune: Part Two brings everybody back on March 1 with a hopeful $80M start.

Director Ethan Coen – collaborating with wife Tricia Cooke instead of brother Joel – delivers a disposable but not entirely unentertaining lesbian-centered crime caper comedy in Drive-Away Dolls. With its raunchy sex and vivid violence, the film is more an affectionate tribute to hard R drive-in B movies that more resembles something from the mind of Russ Meyer than anything resembling smart, Oscar-y movies like the Coen Brothers’ No Country For Old Men, Big Lebowski, Barton Fink, Fargo, Blood Simple etc.