‘Wild Robot’ Soars at the Box Office While ‘Megalopolis’ Short Circuits | News, Sports, Jobs

This image released by Universal Pictures shows Roz, voiced by Lupita N’yongo, in the background and Brightbill, voiced by Kit Connor, in a scene from DreamWorks Animation’s “Wild Robot.” (DreamWorks Animation/Universal Pictures via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) – Francis Ford Coppola’s self-financed epic “Megalopolis” failed with moviegoers, while DreamWorks Animation’s acclaimed family film “Wild Robot” climbed to #1 at the weekend box office.
“Wild Robot”, Chris Sanders’ adaptation of Peter Brown’s bestseller beat opening expectations with $35 million in ticket sales in U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to studio estimates on Sunday. “Wild Robot” was poised to do well after critics raved about the story of a shipwrecked robot raising an orphaned bug. Audiences agreed, awarding the film an A CinemaScore. “Wild Robot” is likely to set up a long and profitable run for the Universal Pictures release.
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Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore, predicts “Wild Robot” “may take a page from the ‘Elemental’ playbook by opening at respectable box office and then looking towards long-term playability.” from Pixar “Elementary,” which they like “Wild Robot” it wasn’t a sequel, it debuted to a modest $30 million but went on to gross nearly $500 million worldwide. Family films, led by the biggest hit of the year in “Inside Out 2”, have particularly fueled the box office this year. David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter for Franchise Entertainment, said the genre should reach $6 billion worldwide in 2024 — which, he noted, “returned to pre-pandemic levels”.
“Megalopolis”, Coppola’s vision of a Roman epic set in modern New York was never expected to come close to this level. But the film’s $4 million debut was still serious for a film that Coppola self-financed for $120 million. After its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, critics were mixed about Coppola’s first film in 13 years. Audiences gave it a D+ CinemaScore. By any financial measure, “Megalopolis” it was a mega-flop. But from the beginning, Coppola, 85, maintained that money was not his concern. Coppola created the film, which he began developing in the late 1970s, as a grand personal statement about human possibility.
“Everybody’s So Worried About Money” Coppola told The Associated Press in an interview ahead of the film’s release. “I say: Give me less money and give me more friends.”

The studios have moved on “Megalopolis” after Cannes. Lionsgate stepped forward to distribute it for a fee. Coppola also picked up payment for most of his $15 million in marketing costs. The film, which stars Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel and Aubrey Plaza, also played in about 200 IMAX locations, which accounted for $1.8 million of its ticket sales. After three weeks at the top of the box office, Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” slipped to second place with $16 million in its fourth weekend of release. The sequel to Warner Bros. since 1988 “Beetlejuice”, starring Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder, grossed $250 million domestically within a month of its release. Third place went to him “Transformers One”, the Transformers prequel starring Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry. After its lower-than-expected debut last weekend, the Paramount release collected $9.3 million in its second weekend.
“Megalopolis” it was even surpassed by the Indian Telugu language action film “Devara: Part 1.” It grossed $5.1 million in its opening weekend, good enough for fourth place. It also made Jason Reitman’s theatrical debut “Saturday Night”, an affectionate dramatization of the sketch comedy institution the night it first aired in 1975. The same weekend the NBC series began its 50th season, Reitman’s film opened in five theaters in New York and Los Angeles and raised $265,000, good for $53,000. media per theater. “Saturday Night” it goes across the country in two weeks. Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be published today. 1. “Wild Robot”, 35 million dollars. 2. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”, 16 million dollars. 3. “Transformers One”, 9.3 million dollars. 4. “Devara: Part 1”, 5.1 million dollars. 5. “Don’t Talk Bad” 4.3 million dollars. 6. “Megalopolis”, 4 million dollars. 7. “Deadpool and Wolverine”, 2.7 million dollars. 8. “My Old Ass” 2.2 million dollars. 9. “never let go” 2.2 million dollars. 10. “Substance”, 1.8 million dollars.