Current:Home > Invest‘Megalopolis’ flops, ‘Wild Robot’ soars at box office-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
‘Megalopolis’ flops, ‘Wild Robot’ soars at box office
View Date:2024-12-23 21:23:11
NEW YORK (AP) — Francis Ford Coppola’s decades-in-the-making, self-financed epic “Megalopolis” flopped with moviegoers, while the acclaimed DreamWorks Animation family film “Wild Robot” soared to No. 1 at the weekend box office.
“Wild Robot,” Chris Sanders’ adaptation of Peter Brown’s bestseller, outperformed expectations to launch with $35 million in ticket sales in U.S. and Canada theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday. “Wild Robot” was poised to do well after critics raved about the story of a shipwrecked robot who raises an orphan gosling. Audiences agreed, giving the film an A CinemaScore. “Wild Robot” is likely set up a long and lucrative run for the Universal Pictures release.
“Megalopolis,” Coppola’s vision of a Roman epic set in modern-day New York, was never expected to perform close to that level. But the film’s $4 million debut was still sobering for a movie that Coppola bankrolled himself for $120 million. Following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, critics have been mixed on Coppola’s first film in 13 years. Audiences gave in a D+ CinemaScore.
By any financial measure, “Megalopolis” was a mega-flop. But from the start, the 85-year-old Coppola maintained money wasn’t his concern. Coppola fashioned the film, which he first began developing in the late 1970s, as a grand personal statement about human possibility.
“Everyone’s so worried about money,” Coppola told The Associated Press in an interview ahead of the film’s release. “I say: Give me less money and give me more friends.”
Studios passed on “Megalopolis” after Cannes. Lionsgate ultimately stepped forward to distribute it, for a fee. Coppola also picked up the tab for most of its $15 million in marketing costs. The film, which stars Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel and Aubrey Plaza, also played in about 200 IMAX locations, which accounted for $1.8 million of its ticket sales.
After three weeks atop the box office, Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” slid to second place with $16 million in its fourth weekend of release. The Warner Bros. sequel to the 1988 “Beetlejuice,” starring Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder, has amassed $250 million domestically in a month of release.
Third place went to “Transformers One” the Transformers prequel starring Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry. After its lower-than expected debut last weekend, the Paramount release collected about $9 million on its second weekend.
Also debuting in theaters was Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night,” an affectionate dramatization of the sketch-comedy institution on the night it first aired in 1975. On the same weekend the NBC series began its 50th season, Reitman’s movie launched in five New York and Los Angeles theaters and collected $265,000, good for a strong $53,000 per-theater average. “Saturday Night” goes nationwide in two weeks.
veryGood! (47)
Related
- Suicides in the US military increased in 2023, continuing a long-term trend
- Netflix’s Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo Movie Reveals Fiery New Details
- The pharmaceutical industry urges courts to preserve access to abortion pill
- New Jersey school bus monitor charged with manslaughter after allegedly using phone as disabled girl suffocated
- Whoopi Goldberg Shares Very Relatable Reason She's Remained on The View
- Illinois Solar Companies Say They Are ‘Held Hostage’ by Statehouse Gridlock
- Nikki Reed Gives Birth, Welcomes Baby No. 2 With Ian Somerhalder
- In San Francisco’s Most Polluted Neighborhood, the Polluters Operate Without Proper Permits, Reports Say
- Knicks Player Ogugua Anunoby Nearly Crashes Into Anne Hathaway and Her Son During NBA Game
- A tech billionaire goes missing in China
Ranking
- Beyoncé nominated for album of the year at Grammys — again. Will she finally win?
- Bill Gates on next-generation nuclear power technology
- Peter Thomas Roth Deal: Get 2 Rose Stem Cell Masks for the Price of 1
- Ocean Warming Doubles Odds for Extreme Atlantic Hurricane Seasons
- South Carolina to take a break from executions for the holidays
- In the Latest Rights of Nature Case, a Tribe Is Suing Seattle on Behalf of Salmon in the Skagit River
- Inside Clean Energy: Vote Solar’s Leader Is Stepping Down. Here’s What He and His Group Built
- Expansion of a Lucrative Dairy Digester Market is Sowing Environmental Worries in the U.S.
Recommendation
-
Special counsel Smith asks court to pause appeal seeking to revive Trump’s classified documents case
-
Maryland Gets $144 Million in Federal Funds to Rehabilitate Aging Water Infrastructure
-
Maya Millete's family, friends continue the search for missing mom: I want her to be found
-
Illinois Solar Companies Say They Are ‘Held Hostage’ by Statehouse Gridlock
-
Brianna LaPaglia Addresses Zach Bryan's Deafening Silence After Emotional Abuse Allegations
-
It cost $22 billion to rescue two failed banks. Now the question is who will pay
-
Apple Flash Deal: Save $375 on a MacBook Pro Laptop Bundle
-
Travis Scott Will Not Face Criminal Charges Over Astroworld Tragedy