As we predicted earlier this week, Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another is off to a modest—but not terrible—start at the box office. With an estimated (via Deadline) $21 million opening, given the $130 million-plus budget, no one is quite writing this off as a box office triumph—yet. However, there’s room for optimism as not only is this one of the best-reviewed films of the year (we loved it), it’s also earned an A CinemaScore, proving audiences are loving Anderson’s most ambitious, mainstream-friendly movie to date. Some believe it may perform similarly to other Warner Bros. adult-driven sleeper hits, such as Argo, which opened with $19 million and went on to gross $136 million, in addition to winning Oscars. If One Battle After Another performs similarly, it will likely earn its budget back by the time the overseas box office is tallied up and should become a profitable catalogue title for the studio, especially if it performs well this Oscar season.
Thankfully, it won’t be beaten by Gabby’s Dollhouse, which is on track for a $13.6 million opening. The kids turning up to see this one are loving it, giving it an A+ CinemaScore, which is impressive. However, Lionsgate’s The Strangers: Chapter 2 is bombing, with it only on track for an opening in the $5 million range. It will be beaten by The Conjuring: Last Rites, with $6.7 million, as well as Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle, which is on track for a nearly identical gross to Conjuring. Last week’s horror opener, Him, is on track for a rough 71% week-to-week decline, with it sinking like a stone to sixth place with $3.8 million. Still, that’s a better result than last week’s flop, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, which will be lucky to finish in 10th place this weekend with $1.25 million. Ouch.
We’ll be back tomorrow with our full box office wrap-up.
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