By Chris Kavan - 09/28/22 at 12:34 PM CT
The box office continues to keep its head above water as Don't Worry Darling and the re-release of Avatar helped things along. While the numbers are still bad compared to pre-pandemic weekends, for this year and the dreaded fall doldrums, it's looking good for now. The MPAA continues to dole out some choice morsels to keep us sated.
After all the behind-the-scenes drama played out, Olivia Wilde's Don't Worry Darling captured the box office crown - though its victory may be short lived. The film takes place in a 50s era urban utopia where Alice (Florence Pugh) and Jack (Harry Styles) seem to be living the high life. Leader of the group Frank (Chris Pine) along with his wife, Bunny (Olvia Wilde) seemingly have things under control - but soon enough the facade begins to unravel and dark secrets come to light. The film also stars KiKi Layne, Gemma Chan, Nick Kroll and Sydney Chandler among others. Much of the buzz surrounding the film has been about Wilde and Styles and Pugh and their relationships off screen - as well as the bad blood between Wilde and Shia LaBeouf (who was originally cast and then was either fired or quit depending on who you believe ). In any case, Don't Worry Darling opened to $19.35 million, easily topping the box office - driven by an audience that was 71% women. They gave the film a so-so "B-" while critics were more savage, leveling a 38% Rotten on it. But the troubling news is how front-loaded the film was - taking in nearly $10 million on Friday before falling off. The $35 million film may have trouble keeping audiences interested, but it has taking in $30 million worldwide already so while it may not make a ton of money, it should ultimately fall in the profitable category.
Second place belonged to last week's winner, The Woman King, which had a strong hold dipping just over 42% to bring in $11 million for a new $36.1 million total. The Viola Davis-led historical epic has weathered some criticism about its treatment of slavery and still came out on top. It should be able to reach its $50 million budget as well. It doesn't have much of an international footprint yet ($1.3 million out of Brazil and Nigeria) but is it expands, hopefully it will capture more attention.
In third place, James Cameron took back to the highest-grossing worldwide crown as Avatar was re-released into theaters and commanded attention with a $10.5 million domestic gross and another $20.5 million international bumping its total to $2.88 billion. It's domestic total of $772 million is still good enough for fourth best all time. The 3D aspect was still in full force as a whopping 93% of audiences chose the format and 27% came on IMAX screens. It bodes well for the upcoming sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water and proves Cameron hasn't lost any of his magic.
Fourth place belonged to horror film Barbarian, which continues to hold well dipping a mere 25.6% in its third weekend for a $4.83 million showing and a new $28.46 million total. That is a great return on the $4 million film starring Georgina Campbell and Bill Skarsgård weathering the worst Airbnb story in history. The upcoming horror film Smile has also been getting surprisingly strong reviews - so we'll see if horror stays hot as September comes to a close.
Rounding out the top five, See How They Run just managed to top Pearl with a $1.91 million weekend and a new $6.11 million total. However, this star-studded murder mystery caper cost a lot more and with Pearl sitting at $6.6 million already - that budget horror film from Ti West is going to come out on top for cost versus grosses.
This weekend brings us the horror film Smile, the same-sex romantic comedy Bros and the adult-driven drama The Good House.
The MPAA Ratings Bulletin contains a couple of worthy notations this week, including the rare R-rated animated film and a film that puts the 1% of the 1% in their place.
By doing a quick online search, one finds the phrase "Eat the Rich" has been attributed to political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau and popularized during the French Revolution and ultimately becoming a modern-day anti-capitalist slogan. Films like Parasite, Knives Out and even Joker have explored the themes but the upcoming Triangle of Sadness may be the most on-the-nose "Eat the Rich" film of the modern era - and it may be both figuratively AND literally in this case. The film follows models Carl (Harris Dickenson) and Yaya (Charlbi Dean) who try to navigate their own lives while finding themselves on a yacht trip for the ultra-wealthy. In this case it include a Russian oligarch (Zlatko Buric) along with a British arms dealer and a huge influx of the over-privileged and indulgent crowd. The ship's Marx-quoting American Captain Thomas Smith (Woody Harrelson) is just along for the ride. But the dream turns into a nightmare when a storm hits causing considerable gastric and decidedly more deadly problems as the ship capsized stranding the survivors on an island where they realized their best bet at survival will rely on "the help" in the form of Abigail (Dolly De Leon) who now holds their fate in the palm of her hands. The film has already one the prestigious Palme d'Or at the 70th Cannes Film Festival and, sadly, also lost star Dean when she died suddenly in August. But in her honor, any film that dares taken down the wealthy a notch is just fine my book and based on the trailer alone I'm aching to see how this turns out - and if there will be any lessons to glean. Rated R for language and some sexual content.
Speaking of rated R - animated films most often bring up visions of Disney or Pixar or Minions and such - and when a film dares to take a more adult chance, usually its from outside the United States. But the upcoming Strays, produced in part by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, looks to be the rare adults-only animated affair (mixed with live action). The films features the voice of Will Ferrell as Reggie, an abandoned stray seeking revenge on his former owner (Will Forte) as he seeks out the help of other strays (including one voiced by Jamie Foxx) for his plan to succeed. The film also stars Isla Fisher, Randall Park and Jade Fernandez. R-rated animated films have enjoyed some success - Sausage Party, Team America: World Police and, of course, The Southpark Movie among them. Given the R-rated for this one is for pervasive language, crude and sexual content, and drug use - it will be interesting to see how it plays out with audiences.
Those are the two big films this week but you can check out the full MPAA Ratings Bulletin below:
AFTERSUN
Rated R for some language and brief sexual material.
DETECTIVE KNIGHT: ROGUE
Rated R for pervasive language, violence, and some drug use.
DISENCHANTED
Rated PG for mild peril and language.
THE FLAGMAKERS
Rated PG-13 for brief strong language.
MISANTHROPE
Rated R for strong violent content, and language throughout.
PLANET OF THE ASTRONAUTS
Rated R for language.
SNAG
Rated R for bloody violence, and language throughout.
STRAYS
Rated R for pervasive language, crude and sexual content, and drug use.
TRIANGLE OF SADNESS
Rated R for language and some sexual content.
