Box office: DreamWorks Animation’s ‘The Wild Robot’ takes first place with $35 million
September ended with quite a number of new wide releases, but only one new movie stood out above all the rest. Read on for the weekend box office report.
DreamWorks Animation’s latest, “The Wild Robot,” featuring the voices of Lupita Nyong’o and Pedro Pascal, was always set to open big with Universal releasing the movie into 3,962 theaters after it received some of the best reviews of the year. By Thursday, it had racked up a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and it brought in just under $2 million in early previews, which were rolled into the movie’s $11.3 million Friday. Universal estimates its latest animated movie to open with $35 million, averaging $8,834, which is better than projections and better than last week’s animated “Transformers One.” It also received an “A” on CinemaScore from audiences that went to see it, so it should have decent legs going into October.
More from GoldDerby
“The Wild Robot” opened earlier overseas, but it added another $9.9 million internationally in 29 territories this weekend with $3.7 million of that amount from Mexico. So far, it has an overseas total of $18.1 million and global total of $53.1 million.
Tim Burton and Michael Keaton‘s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” dropped to second place for the first time since opening, earning $16 million in its fourth weekend, a 38% drop from last weekend. As of Sunday, it’s estimated to have hit the $250 million mark domestically, making it the biggest hit of the fall movie season so far. It added another $13.6 million overseas this weekend for a worldwide total of $373 million.
SEE 2024 box office hits: Every movie that made more than $100 million
Paramount Pictures’ own animated offering, “Transformers One,” took a massive 62% plunge in its second weekend to take third place with $9.3 million in 3,970 locations. It has grossed $39.2 million in its first ten days in North America, which isn’t great. It added another $16.6 million in 61 overseas markets this weekend, with $8 million from China for an international total of $32.8 million and global total at $72 million.
The Telugu-language action film, “Devara Part 1,” starring Bollywood superstar NTR (“RRR”) and Saif Ali Khan, opened in 1,040 theaters on Thursday and racked up $4 million in its first 24 hours. “Devara” ended up taking fourth place with a reported $5.6 million over the three-day weekend, which is on par with “Kalki 2898-AD” from earlier in the year but lower than last year’s “Pathaan.” Other than 2022’s “RRR,” which opened with $9.5 million, the Telugu sector of India has been delivering some decent domestic hits with movies generally opening in the $5 to $7 million range in moderately wide releases.
James McAvoy‘s horror remake “Speak No Evil” dropped to fifth place with $4.3 million in 2,661 theaters, down 26% in its third weekend to bring its North American gross to $28.1 million.
Francis Ford Coppola‘s star-studded ensemble political fantasy film “Megalopolis” – which reportedly cost $120 million to make – was released by Lionsgate into 1,854 theaters on Friday. Reviews were general mixed at 50% on Rotten Tomatoes as of Thursday, though it’s dropped slightly since then. Despite many critics going to bat for Coppola since the movie’s Cannes debut, it ended up making just $770,000 in earlier previews and $1.8 million on Friday, including those previews.
It ultimately ended up opening in sixth place with an estimated $4 million, which is absolutely horrendous, even discounting its all-star cast, led by Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel and Giancarlo Esposito. Coppola’s movie received a “D+” CinemaScore, which was on par with Lionsgate’s equally disastrous “Borderlands” last month.
That was followed in seventh place by Marvel Studios’ unstoppable “Deadpool and Wolverine,” starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, which added another $2.7 million (down 30%) to its domestic take of $631.3 million.
MGM expanded Megan Park‘s comedy “My Old Ass,” starring Maisey Stella and Aubrey Plaza, into 1,390 locations on Friday, where it brought in $2.2 million to move into eighth place. It has grossed $2.9 million so far.
Halle Berry‘s own horror movie, “Never Let Go,” had a hefty 51% drop in its second weekend, dropping from fourth place to ninth place with $2.2 million and a total of $8.3 million.
The acclaimed Demi Moore–Margaret Qualley horror film “The Substance” dropped 44% in its second weekend to take 10th place with $1.8 million in 1,712 theaters.
Ellen Kuras‘s biopic “Lee,” starring Oscar winner Kate Winslet as war photographer Lee Miller, was released by Roadside Attractions into 865 theaters, where it grossed $723,000, averaging $836 per theater.
The conservative doc “Vindicating Trump” was released into 813 theaters, though it barely made a mark, making just $337,000 on Friday and $762,000 for the weekend, averaging $937 per theater. This was released by SDG Releasing, the same distributor of last week’s doc “Am I Racist?,” but that ended up coming out ahead with $1.1 million in its second weekend for an $11 million total.
SEE Grab the popcorn and sound off in our movie forums
IFC Films released E.L. Katz‘s horror film “Azrael,” starring Samara Weaving, into 762 theaters where it only brought in $300,000, averaging less than $400 per venue.
Sony gave Jason Reitman‘s ensemble comedy “Saturday Night” a limited release into five theaters in New York and L.A., following its debut at a number of film festivals earlier in the month, where it received mostly strong reviews. It’s estimated to make $265,000 in its opening weekend, averaging $53k per location, which is a strong start for its future expansion. Reitman’s film will expand into more theaters on Friday before going nationwide on the weekend of October 11.
In this week’s box office prediction game, players were evenly split between “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” and “Transformers One” for second and third place, despite the former winning that face-off last weekend. 91 players had “Megalopolis” opening in the top five, but only 11 had “Devara: Part 1” opening in fourth place.
Only two players got perfect scores in the Sept. 20 game, “ConstableReggie” and “ceegel97,” though neither of them played their SuperBets.
On Friday, Joaquin Phoenix teams with Lady Gaga for the sequel, “Joker: Folie à Deux,” so check back on Wednesday for the weekend preview of how that might do.
SIGN UP for Gold Derby’s free newsletter with latest predictions
Best of GoldDerby
Sign up for Gold Derby's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.