After three weeks “The Batman,”A new leader has emerged in the domestic box-office. “The Lost City,” starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, looks to claim the weekend’s top spot with a projected $30 million opening weekend.
Paramount’s adventure rom-com blasted off to $11.5 million from 4,253 locations on its opening day, after grossing $2.5 million in Thursday previews. It’s an impressive start for a release hailing from a genre that hasn’t had the best track record of getting audiences into theaters over the past few years. “Lost City” isn’t your typical rom-com though, boasting a grand jungle setting, a penchant for violence and a sense of scale that could’ve helped convince ticket buyers to perceive the release as an event worth attending.
In “The Lost City,”Bullock portrays a romance writer who is kidnapped and held captive by Daniel Radcliffe, a billionaire who wants to use his knowledge of ancient languages to uncover a treasure. Tatum plays the novelist’s hunky cover model who decides to rescue her.
Variety‘s Peter Debruge enjoyed the film, calling it “the kind of breezy two-hour getaway that doesn’t take itself too seriously, delivering screwball banter between Bullock and Tatum — a guilty-pleasure treasure hunt that pretends to be more progressive than it really is by alternating between who’s saving whom.”The film received a friendly reception, with a 76% approval aggregate from Rotten Tomatoes critics. “B+”CinemaScore gives the film a rating, which indicates general approval. Paramount is hoping for strong word-of-mouth coverage in the coming weeks, considering that the film has a significant production budget of $68 Million.
Matt Reeves’ “The Batman”The film has been in theaters steadily for three weeks and generated a small fraction of the domestic box office gross since its March 4 release. Warner Bros. released $5.5 million more to its haul Friday, a 49% drop from the previous Friday. The film’s debut has seen it gross an impressive $316million in North American theatres, making it the second highest-grossing pandemic release. The film has surpassed a global gross of $600 millions.
“The Batman”Warner Bros. spent $200 million on this production, which was a costly operation due to delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The DC adaptation starring Robert Pattinson was still a huge success at the box office. It is only eclipsed by the massive holiday release of “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
Indian epic “RRR”It is also making a strong North American debut and landing in third on the domestic charts with $5.42m from 4,517 locations. The Sarigami Cinemas release is expected to drawn $12 million to $15 million in grosses through Sunday — numbers which would make it the biggest ever stateside debut for an Indian film. “RRR”?, “Baahubali”S.S. Rajamouli, the legendary maestro of Bollywood, was one the most awaited Bollywood productions of recent times, despite numerous delays in production and release due to the COVID-19 epidemic.
“RRR”Ram Charan and N. T. Rama Rao Jr. play the roles of two revolutionaries against Nizam in Hyderabad and the British Raj. The Telugu/Hindi production portrays a friendship among the parallel heroes.
More to come…