Warner Bros. historical psychological thriller Don’t Worry Darling debuted in first place with $19.2M. That’s about in line with pre-release projection, if slightly on the lower end, with some projections closer to $22M.
Compared to some other adult-skewing September releases from recent years, its opening is about comparable to:
Darling was also playing in 4,113 theaters, an unusually large reach for a film like this, making for a $4,668 per-theater average. All of the top 10 locations were AMC sites, with AMC Century City Los Angeles ranking #1.
Word of mouth has been mixed, with a 38% Rotten Tomatoes critics average and an 81% audience average, one of the widest such discrepancies in recent memory. The audience CinemaScore was a “B-.”
Overseas, the film started with $10.8M in 62 markets, for a $30.0M global opening. The top overseas markets total is the U.K. ($3.1M).
Sony Pictures’ historical action drama The Woman King, starring Viola Davis, debuted last weekend with $19.0M in first place, on the higher end of pre-release projections.
This weekend it falls -41% to $11.1M and second place.
Compared to other comparable female-led action films starring Academy Award winners, that drop was milder than:
However, it was steeper than several other comparable action or historical drama titles of recent years:
Overseas, Woman ’s box office has barely started with only $1.3M so far, with most major markets yet to open.
[Read Boxoffice PRO’s interview with The Woman King director Gina Prince-Bythewood here.]
20th Century Studios’ IMAX 3D re-release of James Cameron’s original 2009 Avatar earned $10.0M in third place. That was slightly on the higher end of pre-release projections, which were closer to the $8M-$9M range.
For comparison, its opening was:
However, it was also lower than some other blockbuster re-releases:
The Avatar re-release contains a mid-credits sequence containing a sneak peak of December’s sequel Avatar: The Way of Water .
The re-release opening also took 93% of its earnings from 3D, a notably higher percentage than for the original Avatar ’s opening (74%).
Domestically, the estimated audience was 56% male and 57% ages 25+.
Overseas, the re-release opened with $20.5M in 50 markets, for a $30.5M global opening. Top market totals include France ($2.9M), Italy ($1.5M), Germany, the U.K., South Korea, and Mexico (all with $1.3M).
75% of the film’s overseas opening came from premium formats, including 3D, IMAX, and/or immersive seating, a somewhat lower percentage than domestically.
Boxoffice PRO has interviewed several filmmakers behind current releases:
Total box office this weekend came in around $59.1M, which is:
Year-to-date box office stands around $5.54B. That’s:
Boxoffice Staff • Sep 18th
The Woman King Sony Pictures’ historical action drama The Woman King, starring Viola Davis, debuted with $19.0M in first place. That’s on the higher end of pre-release projections, which forecast it around $16M-$18M. It also snaps an ignominious three-weekend streak...
Boxoffice Staff • Sep 12th
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Boxoffice Staff • Sep 11th
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Boxoffice Staff • Sep 4th
On Saturday, the first-ever National Cinema Day saw 3,000+ domestic movie theaters offer customers $3 tickets: any film, any showtime, any format. That included premium formats such as IMAX, 3D, D-Box, and ScreenX. As reported by NATO, preliminary numbers show...