‘The Woman King’ Notches A+ CinemaScore & Heads For $18M Opening – Saturday Box Office Update

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.

Billy Eichner is speaking out in response to his movie Bros‘ disappointing debut at the box office.

J. Kim Murphy Billy Eichner has shared his thoughts regarding the meager box office opening for his LGBTQ romantic comedy “Bros,” writing that “straight people, especially in certain parts of the country, just didn’t show up.” In a thread posted to his official Twitter, Eichner, who wrote, produced and stars in “Bros,” asserted that he is “very proud” of the movie, describing his experience covertly watching a sold out screening in Los Angeles during the weekend. “Last night I snuck in and sat in the back of a sold out theater playing ‘Bros’ in LA. The audience howled with laughter start to finish, burst into applause at the end and some were wiping away tears as they walked out,” Eichner wrote. “It was truly magical. Really. I am VERY proud of this movie.”

“Smile,” which was projected for an opening in the high teens against its $17 million production budget, actually saw a slight 4% increase in grosses from Friday to Saturday, beating industry estimates which had predicted a slight decrease after the film earned audience scores of B- on CinemaScore and a 69% positive rating on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak. While those scores could signal a more frontloaded box office run, the word-of-mouth among hardcore horror fans still seems to be running pretty strong and giving “Smile” a chance to match the $23.6 million opening of Universal/Blumhouse’s “The Black Phone” from earlier this year if Sunday numbers also beat projections.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

J. Kim Murphy It’s been a rambling, rocky odyssey to the release of “Don’t Worry Darling” — one involving canceled late-night appearances, rumors of production rivalries and conspiratorial frame-by-frame analysis of red carpet body language and an alleged loogie trajectory. But there was always going to be an opening weekend at the end of this road. And the numbers show that Olivia Wilde has directed a hit. “Don’t Worry Darling” should have no trouble topping the domestic box office, projecting a $21 million debut from 4,113 theaters. The film earned $9.4 million from opening day and Thursday previews — a more-than-solid figure for an original film that carries a modest $35 million production budget.

The thriller directed by Olivia Wilde and starring Florence Pugh and Harry Styles was produced on a budget reported to be at around $35 million, so this opening puts the film on track to earn a modest theatrical profit if it gets some help from overseas theaters. The Venice premiere of “Don’t Worry Darling” was beset with constant rumors about animosity between Wilde and Pugh during the film’s production, and reviews from critics during and after the festival didn’t help matters with a 38% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Comedy drama film “Give Me Five” held on to the top spot at the mainland Chinese box office with a weekend score of just $7.4 million (RMB50.8 million). 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.

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.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.Produced by and starring Viola Davis, The Washington Post called the film the actress’ “ultimate flex.” The drama, which cost $50 million to make, is projected to take in anywhere from $13.5 million to $22.5 million during its domestic debut, according to Forbes.Clubbing its way to second place was “Barbarian” which earned over $1.96 million. The horror-thriller, which Vogue said is one of “the best reasons to go to the movies right now,” tells the story of a young woman, played by Georgina Campbell, who discovers the remote home she booked on Airbnb was double-booked by a man, portrayed by Bill Skarsgård.

J. Kim Murphy “The Woman King” has found its throne at the box office. The Sony release is drumming up a projected $18 million opening from 3,765 locations, in line with most analysts’ estimates heading into the weekend. The epic also benefited from landing some premium format auditoriums, such as Imax, lending an additional boost to revenue. Though that doesn’t necessarily qualify as a grand opening, it’s a solid start for the action film, which carries a $50 million production budget and has no ties to existing franchises. What’s more, it’s more than enough for “The Woman King” to top box office charts on a slow weekend with few rival releases.

Naman Ramachandran Ayan Mukerji’s Bollywood action fantasy “Brahmāstra Part One: Shiva” was one of the leading films at the global box office over the weekend, grossing $28.2 million, according to its producers, Disney’s Star Studios India and Dharma Productions. The film released in India across 5,019 screens and debuted at No. 1 with a three-day weekend of $18.9 million. The film’s overseas screen count was 3,894. In the U.S., where the film is distributed by Disney, it released in 810 theaters and debuted at No. 2 with $4.4 million. However, the film needs to sustain its momentum to break even, with its budget approximately $51 million.

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.