Francis Ford Coppola’s Cannes world premiere Megalopolis arrived in the North American charts in sixth place on an estimated $4m in the latest sorry episode in the film’s embattled history.
The sci-fi starring Adam Driver and Giancarlo Esposito as two driven men fighting for the soul of a city opened in 1,854 locations and earned $1.8m on Friday, $1.3m on Saturday, and $915,000 on Sunday. Pre-weekend estimated put the opening at $5-7m.
While not a financial misfire in and of itself for Lionsgate, who is distributing the film for a fee, it does mark another in what has become a string of troubled releases for the studio in the wake of underperformers like The Crow, Borderlands and Never Let Go.
Coppola funded the long-gestating film himself and sold part of his lucrative wine empire to invest $123m into production and, according to reports, an additional $20m or so for marketing. Lionsgate executives will be betting that the release will drive business to Megalopolis’s ancillary run.
Meanwhile The Wild Robot, the acclaimed animated from DreamWorks Animation featuring a voice cast led by Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Bill Nighy, Catherine O’Hara, Stephanie Hsu, and Mark Hamill, opened at number one through Universal on an estimated $35m from 3,962 theatres.
The film marks the first time a DreamWorks Animation release has opened top at the North American box office. The number will cement The Wild Robot’s commercial prospects as Universal positions it as a robust animation awards contender. Director Chris Sanders has also helmed How To Train Your Dragon and The Croods.
Rounding out the top three were Warner Bros’ Beetlejuice Beetlejuice on $16m for an excellent $250.1m after four weekends, and Paramount’s Transformers One on $9.3m for a disappointing $39.2m after two.
Dreamz Entertainment’s Indian action epic Devara Part 1 stars N. T. Rama Rao in two roles and arrived in fourth place on $5.6m from 1,040 sites. Placing fifth was the psychological horror Speak No Evil with James McAvoy on $4.3m for a solid $28.1m running total after three sessions.
In its second weekend, Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance starring Demi Moore produced a good hold, dropping 43.6% and four places to number 10 as $1.8m from 1,712 screens through Mubi boosted the running total to $6.9m.
The 20th anniversary re-release of Studio Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle opened in eleventh place on $1.6m via Fathom Events in 1,402 locations.
Sony scored a result in the first phase of a three-stage expanding release for Saturday Night, the narrative feature about the behind-the-scenes drama before the comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live first aired 50 years ago. Jason Reitman directed the Telluride premiere and it opened at number 20 on an impressive $265,000 from five locations – the second highest per-site average of the year to date behind Searchlight’s Kinds Of Kindness on $75,457 in June.
The studio will expand the film into limited release on October 4 before opening wide on October 11. Executives are eyeing comps like A Man Called Otto, which opened on $56,257 and went on to gross $64.3m, and Everything Everywhere All At Once, the Oscar winner that arrived on $501,305 and grossed $77.2m in North American when all was said and done.
SDG Releasing opened the documentary Vindicating Trump in 813 sites and it arrived art number 13 on $762,000. Coming on October 11 is Cannes selection The Apprentice through Briarcliff Entertainment.
Roadside Attractions launched Lee, the biopic of war photographer Lee Miller starring Kate Winslet. The film arrived at number 15 on $723,000 from 854. Roadside and Vertical Entertainment hold US rights to the Toronto 2023 premiere.
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