Box Office Report: ‘The Wild Robot’ Tops While ‘Megalopolis’ Flops
Box Office analysis is provided by Daniel Garris of BoxOfficeReport.com.
Weekend Box Office Report: September 27th, 2024 to September 29th, 2024
Universal and DreamWorks Animation's The Wild Robot was off to a very promising first place start of $35.79 million this weekend. The computer animated adaptation of The Wild Robot book series opened on the high end of consensus expectations heading into the weekend. The Wild Robot also performed very nicely with the film's price-tag in mind, which is significantly less than usual for a high-profile computer animated film. The Wild Robot easily won the opening weekend box office battle of this September's computer animated films, as The Wild Robot opened 45.4 percent higher than the $24.61 million start of Transformers One. The Wild Robot delivered the tenth largest unadjusted opening weekend ever for the month of September. The Wild Robot was directed by Chris Sanders and includes the vocal talents of Lupita Nyong'o and Pedro Pascal.
The Wild Robot started out with $11.20 million on Friday (which included an estimated $1.95 million from Thursday preview shows that began at 2PM), increased a healthy 28.7 percent on Saturday to gross $14.41 million and declined 29.3 percent on Sunday to take in $10.19 million. Going forward, the initial daily percentage holds for The Wild Robot are a promising early sign, as are the film's strong critical reviews and apparent strong early word of mouth (The Wild Robot received an A rating on CinemaScore). The Wild Robot had four-quadrant appeal, as the audience breakdown for the film skewed 52 percent male, 48 percent female, 58 percent over 25 and 42 percent under 25. The Wild Robot grossed an estimated $2.4 million from domestic IMAX screens this weekend (which were split between The Wild Robot and Megalopolis this weekend).
Internationally, The Wild Robot grossed $10.0 million this weekend from 29 select international markets. That brings the film's early international total to $18.2 million and current global haul to $54.0 million. This weekend's international performance for The Wild Robot was led by a $3.7 million debut in Mexico. Additional totals through Sunday for The Wild Robot by international market include $5.0 million in China and $4.7 million in Australia. The Wild Robot will open in most of its international markets throughout the month of October, including South Korea this Tuesday (October 1) and Germany this Thursday (October 3). To date, The Wild Robot has grossed $0.7 million from international IMAX screens, for a global IMAX total of $3.1 million.
After leading the domestic box office for the past three frames, Warner Bros.'s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice placed in second this weekend with $16.22 million. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice stabilized nicely this weekend by declining a solid 37.5 percent from last weekend. The film's continued good word of mouth, the continuing lead-up to Halloween and the film's loss of IMAX screens last weekend now being in the past are all factors that helped out Beetlejuice Beetlejuice this weekend. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has passed the $250 million domestic mark with a 24-day domestic gross of $250.32 million.
Internationally, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice grossed $14.1 million this weekend from 77 international markets. Respective totals for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice stand at $123.8 million internationally and at $374.0 million globally. Totals through Sunday for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice by international market include $27.6 million in the United Kingdom, $17.1 million in Mexico, $11.4 million in France, $7.8 million in Australia, $7.7 million in Spain, $5.3 million in Italy, $4.9 million in Germany and $3.7 million in Brazil.
Paramount's Transformers One placed in third with $9.16 million. That was down a sharp 62.8 percent from last weekend's already lower than expected opening weekend performance. Despite strong critical reviews and good word of mouth, this weekend's sharp second weekend decline didn't come as much of a surprise given the new competition from The Wild Robot and that Transformers One lost its IMAX screens this weekend. The ten-day domestic start for Transformers One stands at $39.02 million. Internationally, Transformers One took in an estimated $16.6 million this weekend from 61 international markets. Respective totals for the film stand at $32.8 million internationally and at $71.8 million globally. This weekend's international performance for Transformers One was led by an $8.0 million debut in China (which included an estimated $3.0 million from IMAX screens). Transformers One has grossed $6.4 million from global IMAX screens through Sunday.
Prathyangira Cinemas and Hamsini Entertainment's release of Devara: Part 1 debuted in fifth place this weekend with an estimated $5.0 million. The Telugu-language action epic directed by Koratala Siva and starring N. T. Rama Rao Jr (of RRR fame) marks the latest film from India to make a significant impact at the domestic box office. However, Devara: Part 1 was alarmingly front-loaded towards Thursday's estimated preview gross of $2.83 million. Obviously that isn’t a good sign for Devara: Part 1 going forward.
Universal and Blumhouse's Speak No Evil rounded out this weekend's top five with $4.26 million. Speak No Evil had a terrific hold in its third weekend, as the R-rated thriller declined just 26.6 percent from last weekend. The 17-day domestic total for Speak No Evil stands at $28.10 million. Internationally, Speak No Evil grossed $5.2 million this weekend form 77 international markets. That brings respective totals for Speak No Evil to $29.6 million internationally and $57.6 million globally, which is very solid with the film's modest price-tag in mind. Totals through Sunday for Speak No Evil by international market include $5.3 million in the United Kingdom, $3.3 million in Mexico, $2.4 million in Spain, $1.6 million in France, $1.4 million in Italy, $1.3 million in Australia and $1.2 million in Germany.
Meanwhile, Lionsgate's release of Megalopolis started out in sixth place with a lackluster $4.01 million. The long-awaited (and pricey) sci-fi epic from director Francis Ford Coppola opened below the already modest consensus expectations for the film heading into the weekend (which had tended to range from $5 million to $7 million). It should be reminded that Lionsgate is only the distributor of Megalopolis and wasn't involved in the financing or creation of the film. Despite being in the works in one form or another for decades, moviegoers just weren't interested in Megalopolis at the end of the day. Mixed critical reviews didn't help matters this weekend and the film looks to be going over even poorer with audiences after receiving a troubling D+ rating on CinemaScore. A significant $1.4 million (34.9 percent) of this weekend's domestic box office take for Megalopolis did come from IMAX screens. Megalopolis features an ensemble cast that includes Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight and Laurence Fishburne (among others).
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