The box office is still being dominated by “Black Adam.” In its third weekend, the Warner Bros. release hopes to maintain its lead over the new release, “One Piece Film: Red,” at the domestic box office.
With a 37% drop from last week’s results, the DC flick made an additional $4.7 million on Friday. Since its release in October, “Black Adam” hasn’t had much significant competition, so it’s expected to put up a good fight and increase its domestic revenue past $120 million. Because “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is coming out soon, the Dwayne Johnson movie will have its last big weekend at the box office this weekend.
The anime musical “One Piece Film: Red,” which can be found on Crunchyroll, isn’t expected to gain enough viewers to unseat “Black Adam” from the top spot on domestic charts. From previews on Thursday and Friday, the film made about $4.8 million at 2,367 theaters. Also, by playing in many of the country’s premium format theatres like Imax and Dolby Cinemas, “Red” is able to take advantage of the higher ticket costs that these venues often charge.
Although “One Piece Picture: Red” had been predicted to launch in the high single digits, the film may now gross over $10 million in its opening weekend. That would make it the third successful opening for an anime film this year, following “Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero” ($21 million) and “Jujutsu Kaisen 0: The Movie” ($18 million) from Crunchyroll and Funimation, respectively.
Almost no films these days that don’t star a comic book hero are guaranteed a profitable theatrical run, but anime has established itself as a consistent box office draw in North America thanks to its popular franchises. Cinema Score, a research company, gave “One Piece Film: Red” a “A” score, indicating that audiences overwhelmingly enjoyed it.
Peter Debruge, the chief film critic at Variety, writes that newcomers to the genre may struggle to follow the plot of the anime movie, but that the picture will undoubtedly be well-received by its loyal fanbase. The original long-running manga series has spawned over 1,000 television episodes, dozens of computer games, and even a trading card game, making “One Piece Film: Red” the 15th film in a media franchise that spans multiple genres and formats. As of right now, the film ranks as the sixth highest-grossing release in Japan.
In terms of box office, “Ticket to Paradise,” from Universal, is destined for third place. In its third weekend, the romantic comedy is expected to collect $8 million, which is a remarkable 18% decrease from its previous gross. The Julia Roberts–George Clooney film had been a box office hit for quite some time in foreign markets, where it took in $88 million. Bringing that fame to the United States is the next step. This weekend should bring in another $8 million, bringing the film’s domestic total to $46 million.
It is expected that “Smile” will place in the lower half of the top five. After Halloween and the spooky season have come and gone, Paramount’s horror film is still doing well. It’s projected to add another $9.9 million to its North American total this weekend, putting it within striking distance of becoming the 15th domestic movie to cross $100 million in 2022.
