This weekend marked a moment in history for studio Focus Features, as ‘Downton Abbey’ opened to a $31M haul, representing the largest opening weekend in the studio’s history.
The feature-based off the hit ITV show of the same name, and starring the likes of Dame Maggie Smith, also added another $10M overseas, pushing its international haul also to $31M, thus bringing its worldwide gross to past $61M.
In a slightly disappointing second place this weekend is Fox’s (Disney released) space epic ‘Ad Astra’. The hopeful Oscar contender managed $19.2M, no doubt well below what the studio would have expected for a project that cost almost $80M to produce. The Brad Pitt led drama, has also polarized critics and audiences, with its critical score of 82% on Rotten Tomatoes almost 40% higher than its audience score (45%), with audiences seemingly not enthralled by James Gray’s Movie.
The film did take $26M overseas, although that is unlikely to soften the blow to Fox (and Disney) when next weekend’s inevitable drop hits.
Also breaking $19M is the fifth film in Sylvester Stallone’s ‘Rambo’ franchise, ‘Rambo: Last Blood’. The near $50M production and first installment of the franchise for some 11 years, comes in just below ‘Ad Astra’ despite its ravaging by critics (29 Metascore). It will be interesting to see its international figures for this weekend on Monday when they are released.
In fourth this week is Warner Bros ‘It: Chapter Two’, which took a healthy $17.2M on its third weekend, lifting its domestic total to near $180M, whilst a $21M overseas week lifted its overall worldwide tally to $385M. Whilst rounding out the top five is likely Oscar contender ‘Hustlers’. The now fourth largest STX release of all time, came in with yet another highly positive total in its second weekend, clocking up $17.2M, a total which lifts its domestic haul to a huge $62M of a near (and minimal) $20M budget. The films worldwide standing is at $72M with its near $10M overall international tally.
In a much lesser week for limited releases, the most notable new entry came from GKID’s ‘Promare’, as the animated sci-fi feature from Hiroykui Imaishi bringing in an estimated $88K from just 31 locations.
The fall box office now gears up for a heavy October, with possible Oscar contenders and lofty box office hopefuls ‘Judy’, ‘Joker’, and ‘Gemini Man’ due in the months first ten days. Whilst the end of the month brings the next installment of the ‘Terminator’ franchise ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’.
I can confirm that Joel Coen’s “Jack of Spades” is based on Frances Frederica Montrésor’s 1901 novel “The Alien: A Story of Middle Age.” It’s a ghost story. A gothic mystery.