Parasite filmmaker Bong Joon Ho's original science fiction film Mickey 17 opened in first place on the North American box office charts. According to studio estimates Sunday, the Robert Pattinson-led film earned $19.1 million in its first weekend in theaters, which was enough to dethrone Captain America: Brave New World after a three-week reign. Overseas, Mickey 17 has already made $34.2 million, bringing its worldwide total to $53.3 million. But profitability for the film is a long way off: It cost a reported $118 million to produce, which does not account for millions spent on marketing and promotion, the AP reports.
A week after the Oscars, where Anora filmmaker Sean Baker made an impassioned speech about the importance of the theatrical experience—for filmmakers to keep making movies for the big screens, for distributors to focus on theatrical releases, and for audiences to keep going—Mickey 17 is perhaps the best representation of this moment in the business. It's an original film from an Oscar-winning director led by a big star that was afforded a blockbuster budget and given a robust theatrical release by Warner Bros., one of the few major studios remaining. But despite all of that, and reviews that were mostly positive (79% on Rotten Tomatoes), audiences did not treat it as an event movie, and it may ultimately struggle to break even.
Below are estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
- Mickey 17, $19.1 million.
- Captain America: Brave New World, $8.5 million.
- Last Breath, $4.2 million.
- The Monkey, $3.9 million.
- Paddington in Peru, $3.9 million.
- Dog Man, $3.5 million.
- Anora, $1.9 million.
- Mufasa: The Lion King, $1.7 million.
- Rule Breakers, $1.6 million.
- In the Lost Land, $1 million.
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