‘The Woman King’ Leads Box Office With $19 Million Debut

Chris Messina (Sharp Objects) has been tapped to star opposite Kaley Cuoco in Peacock’s dark comedic thriller Based on a True Story, from Emmy-nominated The Boys executive producer Craig Rosenberg, Ozark star/executive producer Jason Bateman and his Aggregate Films as well as UCP.

Jordan Moreau “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile” is slowly getting ready to take a bite out of the weekend box office. It earned $575,000 from 3,453 theaters in Thursday previews, while David O. Russell’s “Amsterdam” picked up $550,000 million from 3,005 theaters. Sony’s live-action/CGI hybrid, co-financed by TSG, is a family-friendly movie about a singing crocodile, starring Grammy-nominated artist Shawn Mendes as the titular reptile. The studio projects an opening haul of $11 million to $12 million, with some projections belting out upwards of $15 million. With a budget of $50 million, it will need plenty of support from kids and families over the fall to snap up a profit. The cast includes Javier Bardem as Hector P. Valenti, Lyle’s flamboyant owner, Brett Gelman as Mr. Grumps and Constance Wu, Scoot McNairy and Winslow Fegley as the Primm family. The Primms move to a new house in New York City, where they discover Lyle, a saltwater crocodile with the voice of a high-end recording artist, living in their attic.

Brent Lang Executive Editor In one corner, a star-studded murder mystery from one of the most acclaimed directors in Hollywood. In the other, a family fable that features a CGI crocodile who sounds a lot like Shawn Mendes. As Hollywood heads into another quiet fall weekend at the box office, David O. Russell’s “Amsterdam” is squaring off against “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile,” and both new releases are facing strong competition from reigning champ “Smile.” Of the two new entrants, “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile” seems to be in the stronger position. There haven’t been many movies geared toward kids — the last one was “DC League of Super-Pets” way back in July. The $50 million production will open in more than 4,300 locations, where it should make $15 million or more. Sony Pictures, the studio behind the film, is being more conservative and projecting an opening in the $11 million to $12 million range. That could be enough for a first-place finish, depending on how steeply “Smile,” which opened to $22.6 million, drops in its second weekend of release.

Don’t underestimate the second weekend of Paramount’s horror movie Smile. The Parker Finn directed and written title, which has provided many in town that horror remains a bankable genre for the big screen after a $22.6M opening, has a shot of possibly upsetting Sony’s family movie Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile and 20th Century Studios/New Regency/Disney’s upscale David O. Russell comedy Amsterdam for No. 1 with around an $11M+ take.

TMZ, and they show several inches of standing water filling most of the ground floor. In addition, portions of the ceiling caved in and have significant water damage.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Paramount’s “Smile” debuted to a sizzling $22 million, easily topping the domestic box office. The horror film beat out the weekend’s other new wide release, Universal’s LGBTQ romantic comedy “Bros,” which landed in fourth with a paltry $4.8 million debut. “Smile” ranks as one of the better original horror debuts of the year, beating out 20th Century Studios’ “Barbarian” ($10 million) and Sony’s “The Invitation” ($7 million). As the box office enters October, the horror genre will continue to take center stage with Universal’s “Halloween Ends” releasing in two weeks and hoping to cash in on the excitement for thrills and chills. The box office result for “Smile” is a frighteningly good haul, seeing as it cost Paramount a measly $17 million to produce. The company used some clever marketing tactics this week by strategically placing paid actors, with huge, creepy smiles plastered on their faces, behind home plate during televised Major League Baseball games. Social media users quickly noticed the unsettling fans, who wore “Smile” t-shirts, when the cameras zoomed in on batters stepping up to the plate.

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.

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.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter There are plenty of valid reasons to be skeptical about “Avatar: The Way of Water.” It’s been more than a decade since James Cameron’s otherworldly sci-fi epic “Avatar” opened in theaters in 2009, smashing expectations on its way to becoming the biggest movie in history with $2.85 billion in global ticket sales. But times, tastes and box office expectations have changed drastically since moviegoers first made contact with the Na’vi. In the ensuing years, theater owners have developed a greater reliance on big-budget comic book spectacles, and 3D technology (despite Cameron’s best efforts) failed to take off in the way the filmmaker had hoped. Especially since the pandemic, billion-dollar hits outside of the superhero space have been few and far between.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief China recorded an unchanged top five films and its weakest box office weekend since Chinese New Year. Nationwide gross box office was just $18.6 million. Comedy drama film “Give Me Five” held on to the top spot for the third week, with a weekend score of $6.3 million (RMB43.3 million), according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. It now has a cumulative of $46.4 million since release on Sept. 9, 2022. The film is the story of a young man who is helping his father rediscover his lost memories. As he does so, he is transported back in time and accidentally alters his parent’s pasts. That means he must reunite the pair or risk never being born. It stars Ma Li Chang Yuan and Wei Xiang and is directed by Zhang Luan.

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.

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.”

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Is it true that, as the saying goes, there’s no such thing as bad publicity? “Don’t Worry Darling,” a movie that’s been largely overshadowed in recent weeks by relentless off-screen controversies, will test that adage as it debuts in 4,000-plus North American theaters over the weekend. The Warner Bros. film, directed by Olivia Wilde and starring Florence Pugh and Harry Styles, is expected to generate $18 million to $20 million in its opening weekend, suggesting that behind-the-scenes drama isn’t dinging initial ticket sales. It may even be lifting them. Some independent tracking services indicate that inaugural returns could reach as high as $25 million, but anywhere in the high teens would be a solid start for “Don’t Worry Darling,” which cost $35 million to produce.

Jon Burlingame editor It took the combined talents of four Grammy winners, a symphony orchestra and a choir of African-American opera singers to make “The Woman King” resonate with the sounds of 19th-century West Africa. “This was one of those once-in-a-lifetime films,” says composer Terence Blanchard of director Gina Prince-Bythewood’s project, for which he wrote a powerful score – the likes of which haven’t been heard in a period African film since Quincy Jones’ “Roots” 45 years ago. “All of your experiences lead you to this moment, to work on something like this,” says the two-time Oscar nominee and five-time Grammy winner. “As soon as I saw it, I was floored. I looked at these characters as the founding DNA of all the strong African-American women I experienced growing up.”

Silence has fallen over the city of London, save for the mournful sound of bagpipes. For the first time since 1965, the capital is playing host to a State funeral procession, as the nation farewells Queen Elizabeth II.