Posted on 10/13/2018 8:13:41 AM PDT by EdnaMode
Unless Saturday brings a course change, Universal's critically acclaimed astronaut drama First Man is headed for a muted domestic debut of $16.8 million after earning $5.9 million on Friday from 3,640 theaters. The hope is that the adult-skewing film will be buoyed by a long run throughout awards season.
Conversely, Sony's Venom and A Star Is Born continue to rock the October box office in their sophomore outings with a projected weekend haul of $30 million-plus and $28 million-plus after grossing $9.8 million and $8.5 million on Friday, respectively.
Reuniting Oscar-winning filmmaker Damien Chazelle with his La La Land star Ryan Gosling, First Man is a visceral retelling of Neil Armstrong's journey to the moon in 1969. Heading into the weekend, the biographical drama was tracking to open in the $18 million-$20 million range (some services had it slightly higher). Audiences liked the film less than critics, giving it a B+ CinemaScore.
It's not clear so far whether a dust-up over Chazalle's decision not to show the famous image of Armstrong planting the American flag on the moon is impacting the film, whose theater count includes Imax runs.
Comparisons to La La Land (2016) or Chazelle's Whiplash (2014) are tough, since both of those films debuted first in select cinemas. First Man, costing a gross $70 million to produce (and $60 million net), co-stars Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Corey Stoll and Lukas Haas.
One comp Universal is using internally is Ben Affleck's Oscar-winning Argo, which started off with $19.5 million in October 2012 and Bridge of Spies ($15.4 million). First Man is expected to be more of an adult-skewing title than space epics Gravity (2013) or The Martian (2015), which likewise launched in October, opening to $55.8 million and $54.3 million, respectively.
First Man looks to place No. 3 for the weekend, followed by Sony's new animated family pic Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, voiced by Jack Black. Goosebumps 2, earning an estimated $4.8 million Friday from 3,521 locations, is now projected to open to $16 million.
20th Century Fox's period thriller Bad Times at the El Royale, another new title on the crowded marquee, is on course for a $7.8 million debut from 2,808 locations, despite relatively strong reviews and a star-studded cast that includes Dakota Johnson, Chris Hemsworth, Cynthia Erivo, Jeff Bridges, Jon Hamm and Nick Offerman.
El Royale earned a B- CinemaScore and Goosebumps 2, a B.
A slew of movies are also rolling out in select theaters at the specialty box office, including Sony Pictures Classics' The Happy Prince, directed by and starring Rupert Everett as Oscar Wilde; Roadside Attractions' The Oath, toplined by Tiffany Haddish and Ike Barinholtz; and Amazon Studios' father-son drama Beautiful Boy, starring Steve Carell and Timothee Chalamet.
Beautiful Boy, playing in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles, looks to post the top opening screen average of the year so far, or a projected $84,400.
Like First Man and A Star Is Born, Beautiful Boy made the rounds at the fall film festivals in hopes of whipping up awards attention. Ditto for Paul Greengrass' terrorist drama 22 July, which opened date-and-date on Wednesday on Netflix and in a smattering of theaters. Netflix doesn't report grosses.
Nothing strange about it.
It opened at #10. It’ll just be a momentary blip in this year’s box office.
I heard an interview with the director and he said they show the flag just not the flag planting. He gave some artistic/storytelling reasons. It was Goslin who said it was too pro American.
I'll probably watch it when it comes out on Redbox. $50 for a trip to the movies vs $1.50 at home.
Probably read the book first.
I watched the new A Star is Born last night. meh.....
Thanks for the great review. I plan on seeing it then I guess, the question is how and when. Might wait for it to go out on rental.
First Man can cram it.
But I recommend the 15:17 to Paris hugely.
Loved Argo and Bridge of Spies.
Anti-American films will not get my money. If they put the flag in when they release it to on-demand I might watch it.
There are beautiful women and there are handsome women. Lady Gaga is a handsome woman.
I’m surprised they didn’t show a Canadian Flag.
They should have had Mike Holmes play Buzz Aldrin.
If Hollywood dies they will come and infect our communities.
This movie retells the fraud that NASA has imposed and continues to impose on us since its inception in the 1950s.
Truth: Men have never landed on the moon.
“Well done. Cooper and Gaga are great in those roles.”
Great, I’m looking forward to this, hubby even said he’d go with me.
Lady Gaga totally won my heart when she sang the Sound of Music songs at the Oscars a few years ago. I really had no opinion of her before that, and she just blew me away.
It’s different from all the other astronaut films. If you were into the space program as a kid (as was I), then you’ll appreciate it. But it is not a big piece of entertainment and is really this internal story of how Armstrong dealt with it all.
It’s not a terribly exciting film and is more thoughtful and cerebral. The flag controversy is nothing - it was actually ginned up by rival studios to hurt its Oscar chances. This is the bookend companion to The Right Stuff which was big and boisterous and funny. That was flag waving and rightfully so.
I did not know about Gemini 8 so that was interesting. Corey Stoll as Buzz Aldrin gives the film a nicely needed jolt. First Man is a different take on a story that we thought we new. I was fine with it.
I loved it. Lady Gaga needs to shed her rock star image and concentrate more on serious singing. She has a great voice. And Bradley Cooper I found to be very attractive, but then I’ve always been drawn to rock musicians. Unfortunately I went to see it with a friend of mine who lost her husband this past May and the day we saw it would have been their 50th wedding anniversary. Didn’t know it was going to be so sad. I’ve never seen the other versions of this movie, but I did like this one.
I loved it. Lady Gaga needs to shed her rock star image and concentrate more on serious singing. She has a great voice. And Bradley Cooper I found to be very attractive, but then I’ve always been drawn to rock musicians. Unfortunately I went to see it with a friend of mine who lost her husband this past May and the day we saw it would have been their 50th wedding anniversary. Didn’t know it was going to be so sad. I’ve never seen the other versions of this movie, but I did like this one.
She sang the National Anthem at the Super Bowl a few years ago and it moved me to tears. She also sang a song from The Sound of Music on some awards show a couple of years ago and she nailed it.
It was the first movie I’ve seen in a while that got me so involved in good storytelling that I didn’t watch it like an observer. And I thought about it off and on afterward, I enjoyed it so much. Wish Hollywood could get a clue, stop the propaganda, and just get back to movies like this. It’s a rare gem in the pile of crap they are manufacturing these days to appeal to the socialist PC Borg Cube.
The Janet Gaynor/Fredric March ASIB didn't do anything for me because I'm not a big Janet Gaynor fan and, even though she was a big star in real life, I have trouble believing her transformation in the movie.
The Streisand/Kristofferson version is a movie I wouldn't seek out again, but if I come across it on TV I will always watch it, because it's so awful it's good. It's like rubbernecking a 20 car pileup on I-95.
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