‘Smile’ Sees $2M In Previews, ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ Ends First Week With $25.5M+ – Box Office

Paramount’s Parker Finn-directed horror pic Smile has laughed its way across the $100M mark globally. And it did so in under two weeks of release. Through Tuesday, the gross is $102.3M worldwide, made up of $55.5M domestic and $46.8M from the international box office. 

Paramount’s Smile is positively grinning ear-to-ear as the horror pic from director Parker Finn saw a wild 19% upswing in holdovers at the international box office in its second frame. The weekend gross was $17.5M in 61 markets for a $40M offshore cume and $89.9M global to date.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo. The horror flick is projected to take in $16.8 million this weekend, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

It was a varied offering at the international box office this weekend with newcomers from Hollywood and offshore markets, as well as notable holds, as we inch closer to full-on action later in October. 

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.The feature film debut from writer and director Parker Finn was called a film with a “highly effective creep factor,” by Variety.It is predicted to be grinning all the way to a $19 million dollar opening weekend,” according to Deadline.Moving down a notch to second place from the top slot last week was “Don’t Worry Darling,” with $2.4 million in sales. The firm, which cost $35 million to make, according to Forbes, has netted $27.9 million domestically and $11 million internationally.Directed by Olivia Wilde, the 1950s-set thriller was “mid to poorly reviewed,” and is forecast to bring in just $7.2 million on its second weekend in theaters, according to Collider.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Hold onto your bucket hats: Sony’s action-thriller “Bullet Train” crossed $100 million at the domestic box office. It’s an impressive milestone (in post-COVID times) for an original movie that doesn’t involve marquee comic book heroes or intergalactic adventures. It helps, of course, that a bankable actor like Brad Pitt stars in the film, as a heavily therapized assassin named Ladybug. “Bullet Train” reached $101 million in domestic ticket sales on Friday, making it only the 14th release this year to hit that benchmark. With another $130 million at the international box office, the film has now earned $231 million in global ticket sales to date.

J. Kim Murphy “Smile” has something grin about this weekend. The creeper is projected to land a $19 million debut from 3,645 locations. It’s a fantastic start for the genre film, which carries a modest $17 million production budget. Compared to other original horror entries this year, Universal’s supernatural kidnap thriller “The Black Phone” kicked off with $23 million while 20th Century Studios’ “Barbarian” opened to $10 million. “Smile” landed a mildly positive “B-” grade through research firm Cinema Score, though such a figure is standard for a horror release. The film has drawn good buzz with solid reviews, scoring a 79% from top critics on review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes. Variety‘s chief film critic Owen Gleiberman praised the film in his review, writing that it “sets up nearly everything — its highly effective creep factor, its well-executed if familiar shock tactics, its interlaced theme of trauma and suicide — before the opening credits.”

SATURDAY AM:Paramount and other studios are calling Smile at a $19M opening. In a deja vu to last weekend with New Line’s Don’t Worry Darling, another genre pic, this R-rated horror film has received a B- CinemaScore and a severe 69%/53% definite recommend on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak; a standard audience reaction for such fare. We see one studio calling Smile at $20M, and frankly with this audience score, and the front-loaded nature of horror films, only tonight will determine if this goes up. Last weekend, everyone got excited about the initial numbers they were seeing for Don’t Worry Darling, got over their skis and called the weekend at $20M on Saturday AM before it eased to $19.3M by Monday. Smile‘s Friday is $8.2M, which includes Thursday’s $2M previews.

“Smile” is opening on the upper end of pre-release independent projections with $8.2 million earned on Friday from 3,645 locations and an estimated $19 million opening, which would be the third straight weekend that a No. 1 film has earned that amount.

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.

There might be a box office surprise this weekend in Paramount’s horror movie Smile.

"Don't Worry Darling" did not disappoint at the box office, darling. Olivia Wilde's sophomore release earned $19.2 million domestically, nabbing the top spot across theatrical releases nationwide.

Forty members of the crew and production team on Olivia Wilde’s new movie Don’t Worry Darling have spoken out to dispute “the absurd gossip” surrounding alleged on-set unrest during the production of the New Line Cinema pic starring Harry Styles, Olivia Pugh and Chris Pine.

Refresh for latest…: There was extra oomph at the international box office this weekend as Disney’s rerelease of 20th Century Studios’ Avatar grossed $20.5M from 50 offshore markets for a $30.5M global launch. The remastered 4K HDR version of the biggest movie ever was catnip to fans with No. 1s in several markets and, as designed, sets the table for James Cameron’s upcoming sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter In the end, there was no need to worry, darling. Olivia Wilde’s “Don’t Worry Darling,” a psychological thriller whose off-screen drama rivaled any antics in the actual movie, scored at the box office in its opening weekend, collecting a leading $19.2 million from 4,113 North American theaters. At the international box office, the movie added another $10.8 million for a global tally of $30 million. Those ticket sales indicate that behind-the-scenes scandals didn’t ding interest in the film, which co-stars Florence Pugh and Harry Styles. All the talk about Spitgate, awkward press conferences and a seemingly endless stream of tabloid fodder may have even boosted awareness. (Well, that, and the overwhelming desire to watch the world-famous pop star in his first major film role.) Whatever the reason that brought audiences to theaters, it’s an impressive debut for the $35 million-budgeted “Don’t Worry Darling.”

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.