Monday, December 9, 2024

Box Office Loner “Joker” Friday Haul Brings it to $39.9 Mil, Eyeing $92 Mil Weekend, Fox Searchlight’s “Lucy” DOA

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Warner Bros. “Joker” made $26.6 million Friday night, adding it to $13.3 million from Thursday previews. The total is now $39.9 million. This should be a $92 million weekend for Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck. He isn’t lonely anymore!

At the other end of the box office spectrum is Fox Searchlight’s “Lucy in the Sky,” starring Natalie Portman as an astronaut who has a lot of personal problems. The film is DOA with just $19,000 at 37 theatres in its opening. That’s just $514 per theater. It’s lonely in space!

For Fox Searchlight, “Lucy” is now lost in space, gone, and not coming back. Out of orbit, etc. They are now depending on “Jojo Rabbit” to get them somewhere, into box office heather or even some Oscar action. I don’t see it, maybe I’m wrong. It’s time to rev up “David Copperfield,” their one shot at a film everyone could like and embrace.

Meantime, their sister studio, “big” Fox, is dealing with “Ad Astra,” another space opera, and the fat lady singing. It’s over. Up to $40 million today. Another “First Man” situation. It’s possible that the audience has no patience for serious space drama after “Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” and so on. Who needs contemplative without phasers on?

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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