Can Barbarian be the conquering hero of the post-Labor Day box office?
The 20th Century Studios and New Regency horror film is opening in 2,340 theaters at the domestic box office this weekend, and should place No. 1 with at least $5 million to $6 million after grossing $850,000 million in Thursday previews beginning at 7 p.m.
There’s plenty of upside for Barbarian, which is rated R. It boasts a 94 percent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, an impressive number for a horror movie.
Overseas, Barbarian debuts this weekend in smaller Latin American territories, before launching in Mexico, Argentina and Colombia the following weekend.
The well-reviewed film, full of twists and turns, follows a young woman (Georgina Campbell) arriving late at night to a rental home in a rundown Detroit neighborhood only to find it occupied by another renter, played by Bill Skarsgard. Barbarian marks Zach Cregger’s solo feature debut.
Skarsgard, of course, played the demonic clown Pennywise in the two Stephen King It films, which also launched post-Labor Day. It helped usher in a new era in terms of high-profile films going out in early September, which had otherwise been a quiet time.
September is once again quiet as studios face supply-chain issues in terms of their event titles, although movies such as Barbarian could always break out. There are also films from the festival circuit opening in September, including Olivia Wilde’s drama-thriller Don’t Worry Darling, which Warner Bros. opens on Sept. 23. The movie, starring Harry Styles and Florence Pugh, has been making headlines after a number of off-screen controversies.
Another new offering to keep an eye on this weekend is Star Studios’ Bollywood pic Bramastra Part 1: Shiva, which grossed $700,000 in Thursday previews starting at 5 p.m. The film expands today into more than 810 theaters in North America, and is getting the widest Imax domestic release ever for a Bollywood movie. Star Studios came under the Disney fold when Disney bought 20th Century.
Bramastra could open to as much as $4 million in North America.
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