411 Box Office Report: The Wild Robot Claims #1, Megalopolis Bombs

The Wild Robot opened strong to lead the weekend box office while Megalopolis fell flat. Universal Pictures’ animated family adventure film opened at the top spot with $35 million, above the $30 million estimates heading into the frame. That’s the best start for an animated film since Despicable Me 4 opened to the tune of $75 million back in July, and well ahead of last weekend’s $24.6 million opening for Transformers One.

The opening reps a win for Universal and DreamWorks Animation with the film, which came into the weekend as the choice du jour for families even with Transformers One just a week old. That’s thanks to the buzz around the film, which has a 98% aggregated critic average on Rotten Tomatoes. Even better is the audience reaction; Wild Robot has a stellar 98% audience rating on RT and an A CinemaScore, both of which indicate a strong word of mouth that kept the grosses strong throughout the weekend.

While The Wild Robot was never expected to be the blockbuster that the Despicable Me films are, it’s still positioned very well. The budget was $75 million, moderate for a big-budget animated film, and the solid $18.1 million overseas start has it at $53.1 million worldwide thus far. There isn’t much family competition coming up for a bit, which means that Wild Robot is well positioned to make it past $100 million domestically without breaking a sweat. $120 million seems very achievable and assuming that the overseas stay solid, this will be a profitable film for the studio.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice dropped to #2 in its fourth weekend but continued to hold on well. The supernatural comedy was down just 38% to $16 million, bringing its totals to $250.1 million domestically and $373.3 million worldwide. The film now reps Tim Burton’s biggest film since Alice In Wonderland stretched to $334.2 million back in 2010, and it’s just a hair behind Batman’s $251.2 million to become the director’s second biggest film ever. It is still easily on course for somewhere around $280 million stateside. Can it cross $300 million in the US? We’ll have to see but it’s not impossible.

Transformers One took a hit from The Wild Robot and fell 62% in its second weekend to $9.3 million. The animated franchise origin story is now looking to be in somewhat rough shape, with $39.2 million domestically and $72 million worldwide against a $70 million budget. For those keeping track, that means it’s taken two weekends to get just slightly above what Wild Robot did in one.

On the plus side, there is still hope for the film particularly considering it hasn’t yet opened in one of the bigger overseas markets. Domestically it looks likely to close out around $55 million to $60 million or so and will have to rely on other territories (plus digital at home buys) to hit a profit.

Coming in at #4 was Devara Part 1, which had a strong start at $5.6 million. The Indian action film benefitted from the presence of RRR star N.T. Rama Rao Jr. and of course its targeted marketing campaign. As usual, the US gross is an added bonus for the film, which has a worldwide total of $32.8 million. It will likely fall hard next weekend but is in good shape.

Speak No Evil held on very well in its third weekend as it slipped just 26% to $4.3 million. The remake of the 2022 Danish film is now assured profitability in its theatrical run with $28.1 million domestically and $57.7 million worldwide against a $15 million budget plus marketing. It is aiming for around $38 million to $40 million the US.

Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis was, as expected, a bust in its opening weekend. The star-heavy sci-fi drama grossed just $4 million, on the low end of already low expectations coming into the weekend. It goes without saying that with a $120 million production budget, it’s a bomb. It reps the lowest 1,000 theater-plus start of Coppola’s career, beating out 1983’s The Outsiders which started with $5.1 million in 1,002 theaters to Megalopolis’ 1,854. (By comparison, The Godfather Part III opened to $19.6 million in about 1,900 theaters – and that was in 1990.)

No one expected much else from this film, which had morbid fascination from filmgoers at best and incredibly bad buzz at worst. A passion project for Coppola, the film was already flying well under the radar when a major marketing SNAFU saw a trailer feature fake pull quotes from journalists about Coppola’s previous films. And this was after it received a polarizing debut at the Cannes Film Festival. When the reviews came in, they were middling at a 49% RT aggregate – but the big problem is the audience reaction, which is lousy with a 36% RT audience score and a D+ CinemaScore.

This is bad news for Coppola, but not for distributor Lionsgate. How can that be? Because Lionsgate isn’t on the hook for the film financially. Coppola self-financed the film production and when he signed the distribution deal with Lionsgate, he agreed to pay for the $15 million to $18 million marketing campaign. For the record, that’s a low budget for marketing, which is why most people will hear the title and say “Mega-what?”

Deadline reports that Lionsgate is walking away with a $3 million to $5 million distribution fee and that’s good enough for them, meaning this all falls on Coppola similarly to how Horizon: An American Saga’s production costs fell on Kevin Costner. Megalopolis may make it to $10 million in the US but not much more than that.

On the other end of the spectrum, Deadpool & Wolverine continues to rake in cash as it was down 30% to $2.7 million in its tenth weekend. The MCU sequel has now grossed $631.3 million domestically and $1.321 billion worldwide, within striking range of Barbie’s $636.2 million for the 12th highest grossing film of all time domestically. The budget was $200 million.

Amazon MGM Studios’ My Old Ass climbed its way into the top 10 as it expanded into its third weekend with $2.2 million. The Aubrey Plaza coming of age dramedy has built up a fair amount of buzz with a 91% RT critic average alongside a 91% RT audience rating. It has totaled $2.8 million in the US thus far. No word on its budget but it’s likely in fine shape, especially since it will find a bigger audience on home viewing.

Never Let Go did in fact let go of the standard of its opening weekend audience for a horror film, down 51% to $2.2 million. The Halle Berry-led film has $8.3 million in the US and $8.4 million worldwide, another Lionsgate film that will have to find its profit on digital against a $20 million budget. It should finish off with around $12 million or so.

MUBI’s The Substance fared a bit better, though to be fair it had a lower distance to fall from. The critically lauded body horror film was down 44% to $1.8 million, bringing its totals to $6.9 million stateside and $10.1 million worldwide. Those are solid numbers for a genre that doesn’t typically do well at the box office, and it should make it to $10 million or so in the US before moving to digital and streaming on MUBI where it will find profit against a $12.5 million cost.

Next weekend will see Joaquin Phoenix return to the top of the box office alongside Lady Gaga in Joker: Folie a Deux. The Joker sequel is looking at between $55 million and $70 million to start with. In addition, the SNL-set drama Saturday Night expands and is hopeful for around $10 million, while White Bird: A Wonder Story is looking for a mid-single digit take.

BOX OFFICE TOP TEN (Three-Day Domestic Numbers)
1. The Wild Robot – $35 million ($35 million total, $53.1 million WW)
2. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – $16 million ($250.1 million total, $373.3 million WW)
3. Transformers One – $9.3 million ($39.2 million total, $72 million WW)
4. Devara Part 1 – $5.6 million ($5.6 million total, $32.8 million WW)
5. Speak No Evil – $4.3 million ($28.1 million total, $57.7 million WW)
6. Megalopolis – $4 million ($4 million total, $4 million WW)
7. Deadpool & Wolverine – $2.7 million ($631.3 million total, $1.321 billion WW)
8. My Old Ass – $2.2 million ($2.9 million total, $2.9 million WW)
9. Never Let Go – $2.2 million ($8.3 million total, $8.3 million WW)
10. The Substance – $1.8 million ($6.9 million total, $9.3 million WW)