Box Office Update: Smile coming in first with $19 Million

Numbers have begun trickling in and show that Paramount’s Smile is coming in with a projected $19 Million opening. This comes after a solid $8.2 Million made on Friday, including the $2 Million from Thursday preview screenings. Of course, Paramount can’t count their chickens just yet. With a B- cinemascore, a 53% definite recommend per PostTrak (which is quite low) and the fact that horror films tend to be incredibly front loaded at the box office, this well reviewed horror film may be in for a rude awakening in the weeks to come. 

Last weekend’s champ: Don’t Worry Darling which also boasted a B- cinemascore is coming in second place with an estimated $7.4 Million for the weekend repping an over 60% decline in ticket sales. Those numbers aren’t as dire as it sounds when you consider the film has played quite well throughout the week pulling in over 7 figures each day. Also, the film’s quite modest $35 Million budget means Olivia Wilde’s second directorial effort should finish its run as a financially successful endeavor for the studio and that is really all that matters.

Third place belongs to Viola Davis and her film The Woman King with an additional $6.4 Million in its tills while the Billy Eichner fronted Romantic Comedy Bros appears to be DOA with under $5 Million for the weekend. This is a huge miss for our predictions on Thursday as I thought this one had the potential to be a breakout hit as reviews seemed to be unanimous in their praise.

Another miss in our predictions: underestimating the Bollywood market as Ponniyan Selvan: Part One is sneaking into the top 5 with $4.1 Million made off of just 500 theaters. As I said a few weeks back when Brahmāstra: Part One- Shiva opened in second place with $4.4 Million, these Indian releases pull in these types of numbers no matter when they are released as they tend to have their built in audiences.

As Sigourney Weaver enjoys success on the big screen again with the re-release of Avatar, her smaller films are getting buried as her new drama The Good House opposite Kevin Kline is pulling in just $688k for the weekend and will probably not even crack the top 10. 

Did you make your way to theaters this weekend? Let us know in the comments what’s worth the price of admission and don’t forget to check back tomorrow when we have our full rundown of this weekend’s box office.