By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | September 19, 2022 |
By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | September 19, 2022 |
Apologies for the lack of box office report last week. I was in Toronto for the film festival and was run off my feet. Great city, lovely people, solid food. Super hot, I was not prepared for the heat.
One of the films I saw at TIFF was The Woman King, which had its world premiere there. It was great. And it just opened nationwide to strong results. Gina Prince-Bythewood’s historical epic, with Viola Davis kicking all kinds of a*se, opened in first place with an above-expectations $19 million from 3,765 theaters. That’s great for a non-IP film. It also earned a highly impressive A+ Cinemascore, which suggests its word-of-mouth could give it legs well into Winter. I hope so. It really is a good film and one you should see in a crowded cinema, if you so prefer.
It was an interesting weekend for non-IP stuff, some of which did better than others. Pearl, the A24 horror prequel to X, which also played at TIFF, landed at number three with $3.124 million from 2,935 theaters. It placed higher than See How They Run, the murder mystery comedy with Saoirse Ronan and Sam Rockwell. That one earned $3.1 million from 2,404 theaters, which is a bit of a disappointment. I’m all in favor of a new era of murder mystery cinema. We can’t let Kenneth Branagh have the monopoly on that!
At number ten is Moonage Daydream, the lavish documentary on the work of David Bowie, with $1.225 million from 170 theaters. It’s no surprise that a Bowie film did so well although these numbers were also bolstered by its screenings on IMAX.
The faith-based sports film Running the Bases debuted at number 14 with $545,000 from 1,080 theaters. The drama God’s Country landed at 17 with $300,000. Right behind it was the Jon Hamm comedy Confess, Fletch, with $260,000 from 516 theaters. That one got way stronger reviews than many of us were expecting. I hope Hamm gets his breakout as a movie star. It’s been way too long. The surreal true-life drama The Silent Twins is at 23 with $102,000.
This coming week sees the release of The Railway Children Return, a re-release of Avatar — sure, why not — and a little film called Don’t Worry Darling.
You can check out the rest of the weekend box office here.