Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot topped the box office charts, grossing $35 million from 3,962 venues, far exceeding expectations. Meanwhile, Francis Ford Coppola’s sci-fi blockbuster Megalopolis flopped in its debut, collecting an anemic $4 million from 7,854 theaters in North America.
Ticket sales for “Megalopolis” fell short of the original estimate of $5 million to $7 million, which would have been financially disastrous for a movie with a budget of $120 million. By comparison, Kevin Costner’s mostly self-financed $100 million budget passion project Horizon: An American Saga – Part 1 grossed $11 million over the summer and has since gone on to gross $36 million worldwide. was recorded. As a result, release plans for “Part 2” have been suspended indefinitely.
Megalopolis had poor reviews (it received a “D+” rating on CinemaScore) and opened in sixth place, behind three holdover titles and the Indian Telugu action film Devara: Part 1. Reviews were widely divided, with The New York Times calling the film “wonderfully outlandish” and the Associated Press calling it “nearly impossible to understand in one baffling viewing.”
“This movie is an ambitious, personal vision, and sometimes movies like this can defy expectations and make a lot of money,” said David A. Gross, an analyst at film consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. says. “This is not working, and the result is going to be a huge tax cut.”
Lionsgate released “Megalopolis” in the United States, but did not pay for distribution or marketing costs. Instead, Coppola, the Oscar-winning director of the “Godfather” trilogy and “Apocalypse Now,” is financing the project with his own money. As part of its promotional campaign, Lionsgate attempted to poke fun at the film’s incongruity with a trailer that quoted a prominent film critic who had initially rejected Coppola’s later classic film. However, Vulture magazine was the first to report that the quotes were fabricated or AI-generated, prompting Lionsgate to apologize and backtrack. Set in the future of America, “Megalopolis” follows an architect (Adam Driver) who clashes with a corrupt mayor (Giancarlo Esposito) over how to rebuild the metropolis of New Rome after a disaster. The film also stars Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, and Laurence Fishburne.
“This was never destined to be a box office hit, it’s the very definition of a passion project,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior analyst at ComScore. “That said, the film has the potential to garner long-term interest from moviegoers.”
“The Wild Robots” cost $78 million to make, so the company hopes to enjoy the staying power that has benefited post-pandemic family animated films like Pixar’s “Elemental” and Illumination’s “Migration.” There is. Both reflected positive sentiment and led to ticket sales in the months that followed. Their debut work. Wild Robot has been well received by critics and audiences, with a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an “A” on CinemaScore, boding well for its theatrical release.
“What a ridiculously satisfying opening weekend for ‘Wild Robot’,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution. “We had crowds of all ages, and the crowd scores were off the charts, which points to a long and successful run throughout the fall.”
“The Wild Robot” has already set international box office records, earning $18 million to date. Lupita Nyong’o leads the film’s voice cast as Roz, a robot stranded on a deserted island who quickly forms a bond with orphaned Gosling. Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Mark Hamill, and Catherine O’Hara provide the voices of the animals that Roz befriends over the course of the film.
“This is a great opening for a new animated movie,” Gross says. “Animated releases have done very well since their release, especially when they are received as enthusiastically as this. The film should do well at the domestic box office.”
As “The Wild Robot” took the No. 1 spot, three-time champion “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” slipped into second place. Tim Burton’s creepy sequel was another strong box office success, grossing $16 million from 3,804 venues in its fourth weekend of release. The film has so far grossed $250 million domestically and $373.3 million worldwide.
Paramount’s animated “Transformers One,” starring Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry as young Optimus Prime and Megatron, slipped to third place. The film grossed $9.3 million from 3,970 locations, a significant 63% decrease from its initial release. “Transformers One” grossed $39.1 million domestically and $72 million worldwide. The production cost was $75 million.
The Indian Telugu action film Devara: Part 1 opened in fourth place, collecting an estimated $6.7 million from just 1,040 theaters. The three-hour film, starring ‘RRR’ actor NT Rama Rao Jr in a dual role, tells the story of a man who turns against his brother after learning that his brother is smuggling deadly weapons.
Universal and Blumhouse’s 2022 remake of the Danish horror-thriller “Speak No Evil” rounded out the top five with $4.3 million from 2,661 theaters. This is a 27% decrease from the previous weekend, and remains an impressive number for a movie in its third week of release. The all-black comedy of manners, starring James McAvoy and Mackenzie Davis, has so far grossed $28 million in North America and $57.7 million worldwide.
Director Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night,” which was released in limited release, is a dramatic depiction of the lead-up to the first episode of “Saturday Night Live,” and it was shown to 265,000 viewers at five venues in New York and Los Angeles. earned a dollar amount. These ticket sales equate to a whopping $53,000 per venue. . Sony will release the film, starring Gabriel LaBelle as Lorne Michaels, Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase, and Ella Hunt as Gilda Radner, in the US on October 11th.
