‘Mickey 17’ Sinks at Box Office to $18.5 Million Opening Weekend

This time a year ago, the box office was getting a drought-busting weekend thanks to the $82.5 million opening of Warner Bros./Legendary’s “Dune: Part Two.” But Warner’s new release this weekend, “Mickey 17,” isn’t opening to a quarter of that.

Industry estimates have Bong Joon-ho’s sci-fi satire opening to just $18.5 million from 3,607 locations after a $7.7 million opening day, a foreboding result given the film’s reported $118 million budget.

With no other films earning more than $10 million this weekend — “Captain America: Brave New World” is second with $8.7 million in its fourth frame — overall totals are coming in at a mere $56 million, down 60% from the opening weekend of “Dune: Part Two.

While reception for “Mickey 17” is skewing positive, it isn’t the overwhelming acclaim that an R-rated sci-fi film would need to earn considerable legs. Rotten Tomatoes scores stand at 79% critics and 76% audience, while CinemaScore polls returned a B grade.

With such a result, the ceiling for “Mickey 17” domestically won’t be much higher than the $53.3 million earned by Bong Joon-ho’s last film, the critically-acclaimed Best Picture Oscar winner “Parasite” back in 2019. Overseas grosses aren’t looking very good either, as the film added $5.3 million internationally on Friday.

Much farther down the charts, Angel Studios’ “Rule Breakers” has earned an estimated $600,000 opening day and is projected for a $1.3 million start from 2,044 theaters. The film about four girls who formed the first Afghan robotics team has a 78% Rotten Tomatoes score.

And in the wake of its five Academy Award wins, including Best Picture, Neon’s “Anora” returned to 1,130 theaters for an overall screen count this weekend of 1,938. The film is estimated to earn $1.75 million this weekend, which would bring its total to $18.3 million domestic.

That’s enough to pass the unadjusted $17 million domestic total of 2009 winner “The Hurt Locker,” which stands before inflation as the lowest grossing Best Picture winner since the turn of the century.

More to come…

The post ‘Mickey 17’ Sinks at Box Office to $18.5 Million Opening Weekend appeared first on TheWrap.