


The box office is still far from where it was pre-pandemic. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix as man looking after his 9-year-old nephew. Meanwhile, in limited release from A24, Mike Mills’ “C’mon C’mon” had the best limited platform debut since February 2020 with $134,447 from five screens. In 2018, “Green Book” opened on Thanksgiving weekend to only $5.5 million, but by the end of awards season it had grossed $85 million.

One of the more successful launches was the Aretha Franklin biopic “Respect,” which opened to $8.8 million.īut the outlook could be promising for “King Richard” with its 92% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, A CinemaScore from audiences and long awards season runway. Most have debuted in the $3 million range. “Clearly the avid moviegoers are starting to come back, but more casual moviegoers are more reluctant.”Īlthough traditional blockbusters have managed to draw decent audiences, dramas have disproportionately struggled during the pandemic. “It really is have and have nots,” said Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros. film was released simultaneously on HBO Max and in theaters. “King Richard,” the well-reviewed drama starring Will Smith as the father of tennis greats Venus and Serena Williams, earned $5.7 million from 3,302 locations, missing its modest expectations by almost half. The weekend’s other high-profile offering didn’t fare as well. This shows that this brand is really powerful even some 37 years after the original became a cultural phenomenon.” “Part of that is the theatrical exclusive release. “It’s a really solid number,” said Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore's senior media analyst. Aside from the somewhat unpredictable pandemic-era moviegoing habits, the crucial difference is that “Afterlife” cost about half as much to make.

“Afterlife’s” first weekend is actually trailing that of Paul Feig’s “Ghostbusters” with Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig, which had a $46 million opening in June 2016.
