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NEW YORK (AP) — Francis Ford Coppola’s decades-in-the-making,
self-financed epic “Megalopolis” flopped with moviegoers, while the acclaimed DreamWorks Animation family film “The Wild Robot” soared to
No. 1 at the weekend box office.
“The Wild Robot,” Chris Sanders’ adaptation of Peter Brown’s bestseller,
outperformed expectations to launch with $35 million in ticket sales in
U.S. and Canada theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday. “Wild Robot” was poised to do well after critics raved about the story of a shipwrecked robot who raises an orphan gosling. Audiences agreed, giving
the film an A CinemaScore. “Wild Robot” is likely set up a long and lucrative run for the Universal Pictures release.
Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore, predicts “The
Wild Robot” “may take a page from the ‘Elemental’ playbook by opening to
respectable box office and then looking toward long-term playability.” Pixar’s “Elemental,” which like “The Wild Robot” wasn’t a sequel, debuted with a modest $30 million but went on to gross nearly $500
million worldwide.
Family movies, led by the year’s biggest hit in “Inside Out 2,” have particularly powered the box office this year. David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter for Franchise Entertainment, said
the genre should reach $6 billion worldwide in 2024 — which, he noted,
“is back to pre-pandemic levels.”
“Megalopolis,” Coppola’s vision of a Roman epic set in modern-day New York, was never expected to perform close to that level. But the film’s
$4 million debut was still sobering for a movie that Coppola bankrolled
himself for $120 million. Following its premiere at the Cannes Film
Festival, critics have been mixed on Coppola’s first film in 13 years. Audiences gave in a D+ CinemaScore.
By any financial measure, “Megalopolis” was a mega-flop. But from the start, the 85-year-old Coppola maintained money wasn’t his concern.
Coppola fashioned the film, which he first began developing in the late
1970s, as a grand personal statement about human possibility.
“Everyone’s so worried about money,” Coppola told The Associated Press
in an interview ahead of the film’s release. “I say: Give me less money
and give me more friends.”
Studios passed on “Megalopolis” after Cannes. Lionsgate ultimately
stepped forward to distribute it, for a fee. Coppola also picked up the
tab for most of its $15 million in marketing costs. The film, which
stars Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel and Aubrey Plaza, also played in
about 200 IMAX locations, which accounted for $1.8 million of its ticket
sales.
After three weeks atop the box office, Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” slid to second place with $16 million in its fourth weekend
of release. The Warner Bros. sequel to the 1988 “Beetlejuice,” starring Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder, has amassed $250 million domestically
in a month of release.
Third place went to “Transformers One,” the Transformers prequel
starring Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry. After its lower-than
expected debut last weekend, the Paramount release collected $9.3
million on its second weekend.
“Megalopolis” was even bested by the Indian Telugu-language action film “Devara: Part 1.” It grossed $5.1 million in its opening weekend, good enough for fourth place.
Also debuting in theaters was Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night,” an affectionate dramatization of the sketch-comedy institution on the night
it first aired in 1975. On the same weekend the NBC series began its
50th season, Reitman’s movie launched in five New York and Los Angeles theaters and collected $265,000, good for a strong $53,000 per-theater
average. “Saturday Night” goes nationwide in two weeks.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian
theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. “The Wild Robot,” $35 million.
2. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” $16 million.
3. “Transformers One,” $9.3 million.
4. “Devara: Part 1,” $5.1 million.
5. “Speak No Evil,” $4.3 million.
6. “Megalopolis,” $4 million.
7. “Deadpool & Wolverine,” $2.7 million.
8. “My Old Ass,” $2.2 million.
9. “Never Let Go,” $2.2 million.
10. “The Substance,” $1.8 million.
https://apnews.com/article/megalopolis-wild-robot-box-office-b086c1f3259c6075915aedd5a1f4d9f9
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