'King Richard'
Anne Marie Fox was given by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. had a number of old-school studio programmers, including The Kitchen, Blinded By the Light, and The Way Back. The Will Smith-led tennis biopic on the pay per view channel, which was watched by over three million households, is a good example of the films which do well on the pay per view channel. Kong, Dune, The Conjuring 3, etc. are the ones that do well at the box office. It is possible that Malignant was found over the 31 day window.
It is not like everyone went to In the Heights on opening weekend of HBO Max. The Many Saints of Newark juiced interest in The Sopranos and was a down payment on David Chase making a Sopranos prequel show, but not every studio is playing such a long game. You can argue that something is amiss in WB marketing these films, but they are also the only studio still releasing movies like Reminiscence or Those Who Wish Me Dead on the regular in wide theatrical release. If you don't come, they will stop building it because they aren't a charity.
'King Richard'
The picture is from Warner Bros.
King Richard stumbled this weekend with $5.7 million despite strong reviews and Will Smith's presence, and plenty of free media. The film earned an A from Cinemascore and will hopefully stick around through Thanksgiving and into Christmas, but legs can only do so much when you open below $6 million. The audiences didn't care that WB sold the hell out of this one. If King Richard had a strong box office, it would have pushed it to the front of the Best Picture race.
King Richard opened in line with other films, but below the likes of Focus and Concussion. Next time you read a post about Smith needing a new agent, remember that he signed on for Aladdin 2, Independence Day 3, Bright 2, Men in Black 5, Bad Boys 4Ever, and Deadshot. Smith has been making non-franchise films for the last decade. The new normal has audiences barely seeing anything outside of the nostalgia franchise comfort zone. Smith pushed a true-life drama about economic mobility to $300 million worldwide. The marketplace is more important than the movie star, that he couldn't open King Richard to $10 million is clear.
'C'mon C'mon'
A 24.
C'mon C'mon was released by A 24. The well-reviewed movie, starring Joaquin Phoenix as a journalist who takes care of his nephew while on a cross-country trip, earned $134,700 this weekend, giving it a robust $26,889 per-theater average. That is the biggest per-theater average of the so-called pandemic era, ahead of even The French Dispatch. The Wes Anderson charmer has a current domestic and worldwide sales of $32 million. Spencer has earned $6.1 million in 17 days, while Belfast has earned $3.5 million in ten days. The Lady Gaga/Adam Driver melodrama opens over Thanksgiving, and all hopes are with the House of Gucci.
