Paramount’s horror movie Smile struck up $2M in Thursday night previews that started at 7 p.m., a figure that’s just above M. Night Shyamalan’s Old from summer 2021, which did $1.5M in its previews, and just under Universal/Blumhouse’s Black Phone Thursday previews which were $3M in June.
Paramount is expecting a high-teens start this weekend, while it won’t be shocking if Smile exceeds $20M. Black Phone opened to $23.6M. Critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes for the new pic stand at 78% fresh, still good for a horror film. The movie from writer-director Parker Finn sits at 82% with RT audiences, which is very good. When the movie originally was conceived, there was a possibility it would go to Paramount+, however, a rock concert test screening propelled Smile‘s fate for a theatrical release.
Universal’s Bros, the LGBTQ romantic comedy starring and co-written by Billy Eichner, made $500K from 2,700 theaters, which started showtimes at 5 p.m. The studio is only expecting a number in the high single digits this weekend.
Meanwhile, New Line’s Olivia Wilde genre pic Don’t Worry Darling ended its first week with $25.5M. The pic’s cume for the first seven days are just slightly ahead of TriStar’s first week of The Woman King which did $25.1M at 4,113. Don’t Worry Darling posted solid weekdays: $1.66M on Monday, $2M Tuesday, $1.3M Wednesday and $1.2M yesterday which is a 7% in its daily take. The pic is expected to decline 55% to 60% in its second weekend, around $7.7M.
The Woman King made $720K yesterday in second place, -4% from Wednesday, for a second week of $14.5M, running total of $39.7M. The Viola Davis movie was booked at 3,765 venues.
20th Century Studios/Disney’s Avatar at 1,860 locations grossed $580K, -15% for a first week of $13.8M, and running grand total of $774.3M; still the fourth highest grossing movie ever at the domestic box office after Star Wars: Force Awakens ($936.6M), Avengers: Endgame ($858.3M) and Spider-Man: No Way Home ($814M).
20th Century Studios/Disney’s Barbarian in week 3 made $6.6M for a running total of $30.2M. Yesterday at 2,865 saw $370K, -17% from Wednesday.
A24’s Pearl in week 2 made $2.8M at 2,982 sites with Thursday at $170K, -22% from Wednesday and a running total of $7.5M.
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