‘Don’t Worry Darling’ tops North American box office after attention-grabbing cast disputes

• The film from Warner Bros. generated $19.2 million in ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada over the weekend, researcher Comscore Inc. estimated Sunday. That puts it below Boxoffice Pro’s projected $21.6 million. The studio had projected ticket sales of around $17 million.
• A reissue of the 2009 blockbuster Avatar Comscore grossed $10 million domestically as Walt Disney Co. seeks to increase interest in the sequel, Avatar: The Way of Waterbefore its debut in December.

Key Insights

• The current period is slow for the industry as theater chains look forward to potentially big movies later this year, such as Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on November 11. Meanwhile, lower-budget pictures have been competing with re-releases of classics and foreign films as theater owners scramble to fill seats.
• don’t worry love tells the story of the residents of a fictional town called Victory, California, which was created and paid for by a secret company. It is Wilde’s second film after his directorial debut in 2019 with Booksmart, and starring Florence Pugh and Harry Styles. It has a critical approval rating of 38% on Rotten Tomatoes, although 80% of viewers said they liked it. It was made for $35 million. “We are enormously proud of this film and are pleased with these results given our modest production budget,” Warner Bros. said. in a statement.
• The film, which was made under Warner Bros.’ The New Line Cinema label was the subject of unusually intense press coverage prior to its release. One of its stars, Shia LaBeouf, was fired and replaced by Styles, according to Wilde. LaBeouf accused her of lying, saying she quit, while others have speculated that a rift also developed between the director and Pugh.
• The audience for don’t worry love 66% were women, most of them over the age of 18, the study said. The Lady King, a Sony Group film about a female-led group of African warriors, which opened in first place last weekend, took second place. Comscore estimates it sold $11.1 million in tickets.