Box Office Update: The Wild Robot & Megalopolis have stronger previews than expected

In this weekend’s box office preview, I was pretty conservative in my guesses as far as what the weekend grosses will be for the two big new releases, The Wild Robot and Megalopolis. I actually figured The Wild Robot would only open in the teens and be beaten by Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, but it seems my estimates might have been off as Deadline is reporting that the animated movie made a decent $1.95 million yesterday. That’s not a massive number, but it’s in line with what other animated movies like Trolls Band Together and The Bad Guys made, which suggests The Wild Robot should have no trouble opening in the $20-25 million range. Last week, Transformers One made about $3 million in previews on its way to a $24 million opening, but many believe the preview night number was front-loaded due to older fans.

In other news, Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis posted $770k in preview revenue, which isn’t bad for an adult-skewing arthouse title. While there’s no way Coppola’s $100 million plus passion project opens north of $5 million, that preview number proves some faithful Coppola fans are willing to give it a show. It had special Monday evening screenings that largely sold out, and if you happen to see it on a premium screen, you might even be treated to a live theater component, which we explain here.

As usual, we’ll be updating the numbers as they come in, so stay tuned to find out whether the well-reviewed Wild Robot is able to take the box office crown from Beetlejuice Beetlejuice in week four. 

What are you going to see this weekend? Make sure to let us know in the comments. While I didn’t care for Megalopolis, I still think it’s worth seeing just for how audacious it is.