The Wild Robot took the top spot at the box office

New York Post

NEW YORK — Francis Ford Coppola’s decades-in-the-making, self-financed epic “Megalopolis” flopped with moviegoers, while the acclaimed DreamWorks Animation family film “The Wild Robot” soared to No.
1 at the weekend box office.
“Wild Robot” was poised to do well after critics raved about the story of a shipwrecked robot who raises an orphan gosling.
“Wild Robot” is likely set up a long and lucrative run for the Universal Pictures release.
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” $16 million.

NEGATIVE

NEW YORK—While DreamWorks Animation’s highly regarded family film “The Wild Robot” shot to No. 1, Francis Ford Coppola’s self-financed, decades-long epic “Megalopolis” bombed with audiences. Box office for the weekend: 1.

The Wild Robot, a Chris Sanders adaptation of Peter Brown’s best-selling novel, defied predictions at release, grossing $35 million in the U.S. S. and theaters in Canada, based on Sunday studio estimates.

Critics praised “Wild Robot,” a story about a shipwrecked robot raising an orphan gosling, so the film was expected to do well. The film received an A CinemaScore from viewers who agreed.

The Universal Pictures release of “Wild Robot” is probably in for a long and profitable run.

According to Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian, “The Wild Robot” “may take a page from the ‘Elemental’ playbook’ by opening to respectable box office and then looking toward long-term playability.”. “.

Similar to “The Wild Robot,” Pixar’s “Elemental” was not a sequel and began with a meager $30 million but eventually made nearly $500 million in total worldwide.

Coppola’s adaptation of a Roman epic set in contemporary New York, “Megalopolis,” was never predicted to reach that caliber of performance.

Even with Coppola financing the movie with his own $120 million, the $4 million opening was nevertheless sobering.

Coppola’s first film in thirteen years has received mixed reviews from critics since its Cannes Film Festival debut. A D+ CinemaScore was awarded by the audience.

“Megalopolis” was a financial disaster by any standard. However, the 85-year-old Coppola insisted that money was not a concern of his from the beginning.

First conceived as a grand personal statement about human possibility, Coppola started work on the film in the late 1970s.

Prior to the movie’s premiere, Coppola stated in an interview with The Associated Press, “Everyone’s so worried about money.”. “I say, give me more friends and less money.”. “.

Once Cannes, the studios rejected “Megalopolis.”. In the end, Lionsgate offered to distribute it in exchange for a fee. Coppola also paid the majority of the $15 million spent on marketing.

One point eight million of the movie’s ticket sales came from its approximately 200 IMAX screens, which starred Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, and Aubrey Plaza.

Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” dropped to second place with $16 million in its fourth weekend of release, after three weeks at the top of the box office.

Warner Bros. In just one month of its release, the domestic box office for the 1988 film “Beetlejuice,” which starred Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder, topped $250 million.

“Transformers One,” the Transformers prequel starring Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry, came in third place.

Following a less-than-expected opening weekend, the Paramount release brought in $9.3 million in its second weekend.

Even the Indian Telugu action movie “Devara: Part 1” outperformed “Megalopolis.”. It took in $5,01 million during its first weekend of sales, good for fourth place.

A charming dramatization of the sketch-comedy institution on the night it originally aired in 1975, Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night” also made its theatrical debut.

Reitman’s film debuted in five theaters in New York and Los Angeles on the same weekend that the NBC series kicked off its 50th season. It made $265,000, which works out to a solid $53,000 per theater on average. In two weeks, “Saturday Night” will air nationwide.

Tickets expected to be sold at U from Friday through Sunday. S. and Canadian cinemas, per Comscore. On Monday, the final domestic statistics will be made public.

1. $35 million for “The Wild Robot”.

2. The $16 million “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”.

3. $9.3 million for “Transformers One”.

4. $5.11 million for “Devara: Part 1.”.

5. “Talk No Evil,” forty-three million.

6. . “Megalopolis,” worth $4 million.

7. “Deadpool and Wolverine,” $207.7 million.

8. $2p.2 million for “My Old Ass.”.

9. “Never Give Up,” $22.2 million.

10. . $1.08 million for “The Substance”.

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