Box Office: ‘The Barbarian’ Takes a Stab at No. 1 in Quiet Week

Smile,” the unsettling Paramount horror about grins, murder and suicide, has earned $2 million from Thursday previews at the domestic box office. On the other side of the cinematic spectrum, Universal’s “Bros,” a romantic comedy with entirely LGBTQ cast, has grossed $500,000. As the two movies face off at the box office this weekend, “Smile” is expected to earn the top spot over “Bros” and defending champ, “Don’t Worry Darling,” which has earned $25.5 million in its first week of release. The horror movie is projected to earn between $16 million and $20 million this weekend. Paramount will be smiling from ear to ear with a box office haul anywhere in that range, seeing as the low-budget fright fest cost a measly $17 million to make.

eerily grinning fans at a baseball game or Eichner running down New York City streets with Paul Rudd and a pack of lesbians. For a comparison for “Smile,” Universal and Blumhouse’s “The Black Phone” from this summer, another original horror film, managed $3 million in its Thursday previews before opening to $23.6 million.

The Big Moon have announced that they will not be selling merch at their London gig at the O2 Kentish Town Forum tonight (September 28), and will instead host a pop-up store at a nearby pub.In a Twitter thread, the band called out the venue’s practise of taking a cut of 25 per cent plus VAT on each sale. “This is basically all of our profit on merch,” they said.“This leaves us with the choice of either not making any profit, or increasing prices and charging you guys more – neither feels fair.”To circumvent this, the band will be selling merchandise at The Abbey Tavern on Kentish Town Road before and after the gig.“Merch is one of the few ways we keep ourselves afloat at this level when touring profits are still minimal!” the thread continued.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter After years of declarations about the death of the romantic comedy, Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum’s recent commercial hit “The Lost City” proved there’s still a place on the big screen for meet-cute stories. Now, comedian and actor Billy Eichner is taking a stab at the feel-good genre with “Bros,” an R-rated romantic comedy that opens in 3,300 North American theaters on Friday. The movie, from Universal Pictures, is aiming to generate $8 million to $10 million in its opening weekend. It’s not a huge number, but the film carries a modest $22 million production budget. “Bros” is debuting in theaters alongside Paramount’s R-rated chiller “Smile,” which is projected to cast a toothy glow over the domestic box office charts with $16 million to $20 million. That’s a stellar result given that it only cost the studio $17 million to make.

Brett Morgen’s Moonage Daydream swept up a cool $922,000 at the domestic box office this weekend, while an impressive array of top industry players took Saturday to mull the global future of arthouse film. The real test — of specialty’s core adult audience willingness to return to cinemas — starts this fall, according to execs at the Zurich Summit, an in-person event straddling the Zurich Film Festival.

The run-up to the release of “Don’t Worry Darling” has been filled with tabloid headlines about the filming of the movie, most notably over an alleged feud between Pugh and director Olivia Wilde. Meanwhile, critics have mostly panned the film with a 38% Rotten Tomatoes score.

Naman Ramachandran Disney’s “See How They Run” occupied the top spot for the second weekend in a row at the U.K. and Ireland box office, with £984,779 ($1.1 million), per numbers released by Comscore. The film now has a total of £2.8 million. In its seventh weekend, Sony’s “Bullet Train,” starring Brad Pitt, collected £325,252 in second place for a total of £10.3 million. In third position with £321,746 was Universal’s “Minions: The Rise Of Gru,” which now has a total of £45.1 million after 12 weekends. Paramount’s Tom Cruise vehicle “Top Gun: Maverick” stormed back into the top five with £320,963 in fourth place. With a total of £82.6 million after 17 weekends, the film is the top grossing film of 2022 in the territory and eighth on the all time chart behind “Avengers: Endgame” (£88.7 million).

https://t.co/0hr3hUTMhgWhen asked by a Twitter user why the movie wasn’t happening, Flanagan responded, “Because of DOCTOR SLEEP’s box office performance, Warner Bros opted not to proceed with it. They control the rights, so that was that.”Because of DOCTOR SLEEP’s box office performance, Warner Bros opted not to proceed with it.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter It’s been proven time and time again that Academy Award attention has little to do with box office glory. Just look at recent winners like “Moonlight,” “The Hurt Locker,” or “CODA,” the first streaming movie to land the Oscar’s top prize, all of which were more beloved than seen, at least by the general public. But during a year in which several commercial movies, including “Top Gun: Maverick” ($1.44 billion globally and counting), “Elvis” ($284 million globally) “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (scheduled for Nov. 11) and “Avatar: The Way of Water” (scheduled for Dec. 16), look to find themselves in the awards race, film industry analysts believe the box office may play a part in keeping movies from major studios in the conversation.

The Viola Davis-led action epic “ The Woman King ” easily conquered the North American box office in its first weekend in theaters, against a crowded market of new releases. The film, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, surpassed expectations and earned $19 million in ticket sales, according to estimates from Sony on Sunday.

Julia Roberts and George Clooney landed at the top of the international box office chart this weekend as Universal/Working Title’s Ticket to Paradise expanded its offshore rollout. Adding 39 markets for a $12.1M session in 46 lifted the overseas cume to $14.8M with several majors still to come; domestic begins on October 21. Collectively, the new markets this session performed above Last Christmas and Yesterday, and in line with The Lost City and Bridget Jones’s Baby. 

Brett Morgen’s kaleidoscopic ode to David Bowie landed at no 10 in North America this weekend, singing up $1.225 million on 170 screens – exclusively Imax (159 U.S. locations, 11 in Canada).

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “The Woman King,” a historical action epic starring Viola Davis, ruled over domestic box office charts in its opening weekend. Bolstered by stellar reviews and positive word-of-mouth, the movie collected $19 million from 3,765 North American cinemas over the weekend, arriving at the higher end of expectations. Independent tracking services projected “The Woman King” would kick off with $15 million to $18 million, while Sony estimated a debut closer to $12 million. Sony is lucky the film exceeded its ultra-conservative forecasts. “The Woman King” cost $50 million to produce, not including the tens of millions in marketing expenses, including a stop at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The next three weekends are favorable for “The Woman King,” with upcoming releases including Warner Bros’ “Don’t Worry Darling,” which has received mixed reviews, Universal’s LGBT comedy “Bros,” and the Sony family film “Lyle Lyle Crocodile.” There won’t be a theatrical release with the sort of action and intensity that “Woman King” offers until “Halloween Ends” on October 14, so it will have plenty of time to build word-of-mouth both as a female-fronted historical film among Black and female audiences and potentially as an exciting action film among crossover demographics. It will need to do so as the film still has to turn a profit against its $50 million production budget, which was co-financed by TriStar and eOne.

“The Woman King,” the historical action epic starring Viola Davis, took in $1.7 million at the box office from its Thursday night preview screenings, which opened at 3 p.m. on 3,271 screens. The Sony and eOne film will launch at 3,765 locations this weekend.In its opening weekend, the studio projects “The Woman King” to earn $12 million against a $50 million budget.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Fresh off its enthusiastic world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, the Viola Davis-led historical epic “The Woman King” will touch down in 3,700 North American movie theaters over the weekend. The domestic box office desperately needs a boost, but will U.S. audiences be as receptive as festival-goers in Canada? Touted as the real-life “Black Panther,” Sony’s “The Woman King” is aiming to collect at least $15 million in its domestic debut. Independent box office observers are optimistic that opening weekend returns could reach $17 million to $20 million. Yet Sony, who co-financed the movie with eOne, is projecting $12 million, in line with 2018’s “Widows,” which also starred Davis. Replicating those ticket sales, even with tempered pandemic-expectations, would be tepid-at-best since “The Woman King” carries a $50 million price tag.

Even with a Covid-shortened performance schedule, Lea Michele’s star turn in Funny Girl was serious business last week, with box office for the musical revival more than doubling from the previous week.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Barbarian,” a horror movie that may have audiences thinking twice about booking that next Airbnb, scared up a better-than-expected $10 million in its domestic debut. Since the box office has been a wasteland for some weeks now, those ticket sales were enough to lead domestic charts, despite barely reaching double digits. This weekend’s other new nationwide release, “Brahmastra Part One: Shiva,” opened in second place with $4.4 million from 810 North American theaters. Both films are backed by Disney. Though “Barbarian” landed a tepid “C+” CinemaScore, the twisty thriller is benefitting from word-of-mouth, given the film’s zany and flat-out terrifying turns. Variety’s Peter Debruge gave “Barbarian” high praise, calling it a “new horror classic,” one that gets “downright demented as it goes along.” If “Barbarian,” which stars Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård and Justin Long, keeps people talking, the movie is likely to keep filling seats during a creaky September at the box office.

That would give this September weekend the second-lowest total of any weekend in 2022. The only weekend with a lower amount is the weekend of Jan. 28 with $34 million.