Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum’s The Lost City is on its way to a $30 million domestic opening after earning $11.6 million from 4,252 theaters in a significant win for the box office recovery.
Until now, males under the age of 35 have fueled the recovery, while titles depending upon older adults — particularly older females — have lagged.
Paramount’s Lost City, an action-packed romance adventure that’s a throwback to the era of Romancing the Stone, is bucking that trend in a major way. Roughly 60 percent of Friday ticket buyers were female, while a whopping 47 percent were over 35.
Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame also stars in the movie, which pleased crowds at the recent SXSW fest when making its world premiere there.
Bullock stars as a reclusive romance-adventure author who goes on a publicity tour with her handsome cover model (Tatum). She’s kidnapped by an eccentric billionaire (Radcliffe), and a real-life adventure ensues.
The Batman continues to fare nicely and should gross around $19 million to come in No. 2 for the weekend after crossing the $300 million mark domestically earlier this week.
Indian action pic RRR is also making headlines this weekend and should finish in third place with a North American debut of $11 million or more from 1,160 locations, a record for an Indian film. Distributor Sarigami is treating the movie as an event offering and is charging more for tickets.
Climbing adventure Infinite Storm (Bleecker Street), starring Naomi Watts, isn’t faring so well. The film opted to debut nationwide or in 1,525 locations. Projections show the Bleecker Street release opening to less than $1 million.
At the specialty box office, the acclaimed Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24), starring Michelle Yeoh, is breaking out with a projected opening weekend location average of nearly $60,000 from 10 locations in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Mothering Sunday (Sony Pictures Classics), starring Odessa Young, is opening in five cinemas. The film’s projected weekend per location average is expected to be $1,800 or thereabouts.
Among holdovers back in the top 10, Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home will still have plenty to boast about. It becomes only the third film in history to cross the $800 million mark domestically, behind Avengers: Endgame and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Source: Hollywood
