Whew.
Dan Trachtenberg is the hero of the hour as his new movie, Predator: Badlands, has ended the drought at the domestic box office and kicked off November in high style. The movie opened well ahead of expectations to top the domestic box office chart with a franchise-best $40 million from 3,725 theaters (prerelease tracking had it opening to $25 million). Overseas, it likewise took in $40 million for a global start of $80 million.
The pic scored the top opening of the sci-fi franchise domestically after stealing the crown from AVP: Alien vs. Predator, which debuted to $38.4 million in 2004, not adjusted for inflation. And it’s the biggest global opening of the franchise after surpassing 2018’s Predator ($48.9 million).
The 20th Century and Disney release has glowing reviews and an equally growing audience reaction to thank. It is the only Predator film, including the two Alien mash-ups, to earn an A- CinemaScore, while its PostTrak exits are through the roof and its audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is 95 percent. As one rival exec noted, “This is what happens WHEN YOU MAKE GOOD MOVIES! People on the fence show up, and then tell their friends and family to go.”
Badlands, which Trachtenberg co-conceived with his Prey writer Patrick Aison, blazes a new trail for the now nine-film franchise that began with John McTiernan’s 1987 classic, Predator. The series, from producer John Davis, landed at Disney following the Fox merger.
Trachtenberg has always surprised, beginning with 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) and followed by 2021’s Prey and June’s Predator: Killer of Killers, an animated anthology, both of which bowed on Disney’s Hulu. In this case, he’s made a villainous Predator named Dek, played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, into the protagonist who pairs with Elle Fanning’s Weyland-Yutani synthetic known as Thia. Dek has been discarded by his Yautja clan, and in a last-ditch effort to prove himself, he flies his brother Kwei’s ship to Genna, the most dangerous planet in the universe, to go on an unsanctioned hunt for its most mythical beast. That’s where he meets Thia.
Badlands wasn’t the only title contributing to the much-needed uptick that saw overall weekend revenue come in higher than the corresponding frame last year for the first time in weeks.
Paramount release Regretting You, the adaptation of the Colleen Hoover book, gets the MVP award for hanging in there and finally pulling ahead of hit horror pic Black Phone 2 in its third weekend, says Comscore’s chief box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
Regretting You came in No. 2 behind Predator after falling a scant 9 percent in its third weekend to an estimated $7.1 million from 3,196 theaters for a domestic tally of $38.5 million. Overseas, it earned another $5.7 from 57 markets for a foreign tally of $32.4 million and $70.9 million globally. Marc Weinstock, Paramount’s recently departed worldwide president of marketing and distribution, was the driving force in convincing the prior regime at the studio to distribute the pic in the U.S. and select markets on behalf of producer and financier Constantin Films, in addition to guiding the marketing campaign.
Blumhouse’s Black Phone sequel is no slouch, and held at No. 3 in its fourth weekend with an estimated $5.2 million from 2,493 locations as it cleared the $70 million mark domestically and $50.2 million at the foreign box office for a global total of $120.4 million. It’s a profit monster, having cost a modest $30 million to produce before marketing (ditto for Regretting You).
Amazon MGM’s Sarah’s Oil — based on the true story of a Black woman who became the richest woman in Texas because of oil — may not have done much for critics but nevertheless opened to a solid $4.5 million from 2,410 theaters after earning a coveted A+ Cinemascore from moviegoers and a stellar 97 percent audience ranking on Rotten Tomatoes. Landing at No. 4, the pic is also benefiting from appealing to females (68 percent).
A slew of Oscar players opened, led by Sony Pictures Classics’ awards darling Nuremberg. The historical pic rounded out the top five with an estimated $4.1 million from 1,802 cinemas. It’s another instance of a film where strong word of mouth among moviegoers is more than making up for mixed reviews, including an RT audience score of 96 percent.
The opposite was true for Mubi’s Jennifer Lawrence-Robert Pattinson awards vehicle Die My Love, which placed No. 8 in its opening with an estimated $2.5 million from 1,983 theaters. While largely embraced by reviewers, the film has been spurned by audiences, earning a rarely seen D+ CinemaScore, alongside a “rotten” audience ranking of 44 percent on RT.
The Sydney Sweeney-led Christy, another awards player starring a high-profile actress, couldn’t crack the top 10 in opening to a forgettable $1.3 million from 2,011 sites. The good news: Similar to Lawrence in Die My Love, Critics have praised Sweeney’s performance, even if they have issues with the movie itself. Christy, from Black Bear’s new distribution arm, placed No. 11. Based on a true story, Sweeney transformed her body to play Christy Martin, who helped legitimize women’s boxing. The biopic stars Ben Foster as the trainer who becomes her abusive husband.
Neon opened acclaimed Swedish drama Sentimental Value — one of several awards contenders it has in the mix this year — in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles. The pic is reporting an impressive per-location average of $50,000, one of the best of the year and among the 10 best of all time for a foreign-language film. Joachim Trier directed the family drama, which stars Stellan Skarsgård and Elle Fanning.
This story was originally published on Nov. 8 at 9:57 a.m.
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