Director Paul Thomas Anderson’s comedy action movie “One Battle After Another” made the most money in its first weekend, earning $22.4 million from 3,634 theaters in North America.
The film, where Leonardo DiCaprio plays an ex-revolutionary who is hiding, made another $26.1 million outside the US, totaling $48.5 million worldwide.
Box office experts have different opinions about this first number.
A low $20 million start is not good for a movie that cost over $130 million to make and another $70 million to promote. The movie needs to make around $300 million globally to break even because ticket sales usually split 50-50 between the studios and theaters.
But “One Battle After Another” is a new, original film that’s almost three hours long and doesn’t have the built-in fan base of big franchises like “Superman” or “Jurassic World: Rebirth.”
Building interest takes time. Also, Warner Bros. has surprised everyone by making hits in many forms since April, from family-friendly movies like “A Minecraft Movie” and “Superman” to more intense films like “Sinners,” “Weapons,” and “The Conjuring: Last Rites.”
David A. Gross, the head of Franchise Entertainment Research, says that this movie has a chance of becoming profitable if it stays in theaters for a while or does better overseas.
He also thinks it might get a lot of award nominations, but that’s a few months away and won’t help the movie right now.
Good word-of-mouth is very important for this movie to stay in theaters long enough to justify the high costs.
So far, “One Battle After Another” has been well received by both audiences and critics (scoring an “A” on CinemaScore and a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes), which is a good sign. Expensive formats like Imax, Dolby, and VistaVision also help. These formats cost more than regular tickets and made up 51% of the domestic earnings, according to Warner Bros.
This movie also tests Leonardo DiCaprio’s ability to draw audiences.
Even though Paul Thomas Anderson is a top filmmaker, his movies are not always big hits. His most successful film was “There Will Be Blood,” which made $76.4 million worldwide. DiCaprio, who is a top star, has shown he can draw crowds with movies like “Titanic,” “Inception,” and “The Revenant.” His last movie, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” earned $23 million on opening day and ended up with $68 million domestically and $158 million worldwide.
Will “One Battle After Another,” which opened with less money than “Killers of the Flower Moon,” end up being more of a hit?
The film is loosely based on Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel “Vineland.” DiCaprio plays Bob Ferguson, a former revolutionary who lives off-the-grid with his daughter, Willa (newcomer Chase Infiniti), until an enemy (played by Sean Penn) comes back and threatens the family. Most of the people who saw it were men over 25.
“One Battle After Another” was up against two other new movies, Universal’s kid-friendly “Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie” and Lionsgate’s R-rated horror “The Strangers: Chapter 2.”
“Gabby’s Dollhouse” came in second, making $13.5 million in its first weekend from 3,500 theaters.
That’s right in line with what was expected. The G-rated movie, based on a popular Netflix show for young kids, got an “A+” on CinemaScore, which could help it stay in theaters longer. Universal spent $32 million on making the movie.
“The Strangers: Chapter 2” came in fifth with only $5.9 million from 2,650 theaters.
That’s much less than its predecessor, “The Strangers: Chapter 1,” which made $12 million in its opening and ended up with $48 million worldwide. While this sequel is unlikely to be as big, it cost only $8.5 million to make.
That’s good news for Lionsgate because reviews and audience reactions probably won’t help this movie stay in theaters.
“The Strangers: Chapter 2” had bad reviews, both from audiences and critics. It got a “C-” on CinemaScore and a very low 18% on Rotten Tomatoes. Renny Harlin directed the movie, and it brings back the masked killers from the first film. The killers discover that one of their victims, Madelaine Petsch, is still alive and come back to finish the job.
David A. Gross says that poor reviews are common in horror, but weak audience scores, even for the genre, are still a concern.
Sony’s anime hit “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle” and “The Conjuring: Last Rites” made up the remaining spots in the top five.
“Demon Slayer” has made $118.1 million in North America after three weekends, becoming the biggest anime release in the US.
Its worldwide earnings are even higher, at $605.4 million.
“The Conjuring” came in fourth with $6.9 million.
The horror sequel is also making record numbers, with $161.5 million domestically and $435 million worldwide, which is the biggest in the long-running series.
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