Box Office: Bong Joon Ho’s ‘Mickey 17’ Opens to Sluggish $19M in U.S. Launch
Bong Joon Ho’s sci-fi space epic Mickey 17 has finally landed at the box office, where it opened to a sluggish $19.1 million after failing to wow audiences. Nevertheless, it was more than enough to come in at No. 1 amid a slowdown of product that has seen year-over gains plummet over the past several weekends.
Overseas, where it opened in some markets ahead of its domestic opening, the dark comedy has earned $24.5 million to date, including a hefty $11.4 million in Bong’s native South Korea, for an early global tally of $53.3 million globally.
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All eyes are on the performance of the Warner Bros. and Plan B movie, considering it is Bong‘s follow-up to the elevated horror pic Parasite, a cultural sensation and Academy Award best picture winner. Mickey 17‘s price-tag is another challenge. The dark comedy cost a reported $118 million to make before marketing, so will need strong legs to land in the black.
Neither reviewers nor audiences are exactly mooning over the Mickey 17, which boasts a solid but not spectacular 78 percent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes. In terms of audience scores, it presently rests at 73 percent on the Rotten Tomatoes Popcorn meter, and was slapped with a B CinemaScore.
Sci-fi is always a tough sell, not to mention that Mickey 17 cost north of $118 million to produce, which puts additional pressure on it to perform at the box office. Warners has endured a rough run as of late.
In the movie, set in a nascent ice colony, Robert Pattinson plays a repeatedly reconstituted “expendable” who is killed again and again. Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette and Mark Ruffalo also star. Edward Ashton originated this world in his 2022 novel Mickey 7, which centers on the seventh iteration of Mickey Barnes.
Combined ticket sales were $57.4 million, down a staggering 60 percent from the same weekend last year, when titles on the marquee included Dune: Part Two. That puts year-to-date revenue just 1 percent ahead of the same corridor in 2024 amidst a series of low-grossing weekends, according to Comscore. Three weeks ago, domestic box office revenue was up an impressive 20 percent; by last weekend, it had slipped to 11 percent. “The best way to assess the overall performance of the theatrical marketplace is to take a broad view rather than allowing a few lackluster weeks to spark sweeping negative pronouncements of the long-term health of the entire industry,” says Comscore box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “All that being said, buckle up because ‘25 is set to be a roller coaster of a ride and with some major peaks on the horizon, things will bounce back as they always do.”
Among holdovers, Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World — the year’s top earner to date — held firmly at No. 2 in its fourth outing with an estimated $8.5 million for a domestic haul of $176.6 million. Overseas, it earned another $9.2 million for a foreign tally of $194.2 million and $370.8 million globally.
Focus Features’ deep-sea thriller Last Breath placed No. 3 in its second weekend with an estimated $4.2 million for a domestic tally of $14.5 million. Sony’s Paddington in Peru and The Monkey are in a tie for fourth place with an estimated $3.9 each.
The Monkey is from indie distribution outfit Neon, home of this year’s Oscar-winning Anora. Tom Quinn’s Neon is also home of Parasite, which was both a critical and commercial success.
In the wake of Anora‘s dominant performance at Sunday’s Oscars, the film expanded into 1,750 theaters this weekend and is seeing a big bump. Directed by Sean Baker, it grossed $1.9 million for a domestic tally of $18.3 million.
This story was originally published March 8 at 8:47 a.m.
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