One of the lowest-grossing weekends at the domestic box office will witness the arrival of a new champion. Paramount’s action comedyNovocaineled the field with an estimated opening weekend haul of $8.7 million— among the lowest in the post-pandemic era. StarringJack Quaidin the central role of a man who cannot feel pain,Novocainetoppled last week’s number one film,Mickey 17, from the top spot andsent it spiraling to number three. Directed byBong Joon Hoand starringRobert Pattinson,Mickey 17is turning out to be quite a disaster; the movie debuted with around a tenth of its reported $120 million production budget, and will be released on digital streaming platforms as early as next week.
But such is the state of the box office these days. Under-performers are shown no mercy, regardless of the talent involved. Director Bong and Pattinson are A-listers, as areRyan GoslingandEmily Blunt, whose well-liked action comedyThe Fall Guywas also given an extremely short theatrical run by Universal last year.Mickey 17passed the $30 million milestoneat the domestic box office this weekend, with an estimated $7.5 million haul. It should tap out at around $40 million, which means that it’ll likely fall short of Bong’s Korean-language Oscar-winnerParasite. That film made more than $50 million domestically just before the pandemic.
The number two spot went to another debutante, the espionage thrillerBlack Bag. Directed by the prolificSteven Soderberghand starringCate BlanchettandMichael Fassbenderin the lead roles,Black Bag’stremendous reviews didn’t translate into box office success. Despite a “fresh” 97% approval rating on the aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes,Black Baggrossed only an estimated $7.5 million in its first weekend of release. The movie was produced ona reported budget of $50 million, which is far greater than the reported $2 million production budget of Soderbergh’sPresence. The horror film debuted theatrically in January, and grossed around $10 million worldwide.
‘Captain America: Brave New World’ Continues Its Quest Toward the $200 Million Mark
The fourth spot went toCaptain America: Brave New World, which is now hoping against all hope that it has enough gas in the tank to make it past the $200 million mark domestically. The superhero movie experienced major drops in revenue after its $100 million opening weekend haul, and hasnow passed the $185 million markafter generating an estimated $5 million this weekend. Even thoughBrave New WorldpassedCaptain America: The First AvengerandBlack Widowrecently, it’s still among the lowest-grossing Marvel Cinematic Universe films of all time.
The top five list was rounded out by Ketchup Entertainment’sLooney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up, which made around $3 million this weekend on the back of solid audience reception. Elsewhere, A24’sOpustanked with just $1 million, debuting outside the top 10. But the faith-based releaseThe Last Suppernearly cracked the top five with nearly $3 million. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
Jack Quaid stars as Nathan Caine, a bank executive with congenital insensitivity to pain. When his girlfriend is kidnapped during a bank robbery, his rare condition becomes his greatest asset in a daring rescue mission.
