Over the past few weeks, all the buzz about Olivia Wilde’s second directorial effort, Don’t Worry Darling, was for the wrong reasons with chatter over on-set feuding, Shia LaBeouf’s firing, and Harry Styles’ allegedly spitting on Chris Pine. But Warner Bros. needn’t have worried. This thriller topped the box office earning $19.2 million over the course of three days plus Thursday previews.
Like last weekend’s champ, The Woman King, Don’t Worry Darling benefited from attracting the underserved female audience. Women made up 53% of the crowds and much of them were in the 18-24 range — in other words, fans of Harry Styles. (Unfortunately, many reviews have singled out Styles’ acting as being the worst part of the film, which is NOT a great sign for his upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe appearances.)
Warner Bros Domestic Distribution Boss Jeff Goldstein exclaimed:
“We’re continuing to bring non-traditional audiences back to theatres with a predominantly female-skewing film, proving that audiences of all kinds are willing to return to theatres given the appeal.”
Exiting audiences gave Don’t Worry Darling a B according to CinemaScore, while those polled by PostTrak gave it 3 stars out of 5 and a 67% positive. Certified audiences on Rotten Tomatoes gave it a decent 80%, but critics hated this flick, as its RT score is a lousy 38%.
The Woman King continued to slay, dropping just 41% from its debut. Over three days, the Viola Davis-starring picture earned $11.1M, bringing its total haul to date to $36.2M. It should be pointed out that The Woman King performed quite well over the week, so its total gross isn’t just based on the weekends.
To be honest, I’m surprised that Don’t Worry Darling was delivered in IMAX, but it was and it generated $600K from those large formats. However, most deluxe screens this weekend were dedicated to the re-release of James Cameron’s Avatar which was pulled from Disney+ and put back in theaters in preparation for the release of the long-awaited sequel Avatar: The Way of Water which will be released on December 16.
The original Avatar — the highest-grossing movie of all time — took in an additional $10M domestically, but worldwide, it was the highest-grossing movie of the weekend, with a $30.5M haul. But it just barely edged out Don’t Worry Darling which earned $30M globally.
I mentioned that both Don’t Worry Darling and The Woman King benefitted by appealing to the underserved female audience — with The Woman King also appealing to the equally underserved Black population — but the Top Five this weekend is uniquely heavy on female-fronted projects with the horror flicks Barbarian and Pearl rounding out the list.
Here’s how they all fared:
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- Don’t Worry Darling (New Line/Warner Bros.) – 3-day $19.2M/Wk 1
- The Woman King (Sony) – 3-day $11.1M/Total $36.2M/Wk 2
- Avatar (rerelease) (20th Century Studios/Disney) – 3-day $10M, Total $770.5M/Wk 1 of re-issue
- Barbarian (20th Century Studios/Disney) – 3-day $4.8M/Total $28.4M/Wk 3
- Pearl (A24) – 3-day $1.918M/Total $6.65M/Wk 2
Did I say “horror?” Next week sees the release of Smile, a movie that, based on its trailers, looks extremely creepy! With folks already getting into the Halloween spirit, this could be the next big fright flick.
But if you are not in the mood for scares, there is a new rom-com arriving, the LGBTQ+ comedy Bros, starring Billy Eichner with a cast full of queer actors and gay icons like Kristen Chenoweth and Debra Messing.
What did you check out at your local cineplex this weekend? Will you be heading out next weekend?
