Don't Worry Darling tops box office amid reported cast conflict

IT TURNS out that, all the noise aside, Olivia Wilde didn’t need to worry. The actor/director’s new film Don’t Worry Darling topped the North American box office this weekend, taking in an estimated US$19.2 million, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported on Sunday (Sep 25).

It was unclear whether middling reviews and reports of off-screen cast dissension – including between the director and actress Florence Pugh – had helped or hindered ticket sales.

Regardless, the Warner Bros film had “a very good opening, above average for an original romantic mystery,” according to analyst David A Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.

Last weekend’s top film, Sony’s The Woman King, sold US$11.1 million in tickets but saw a 42 per cent drop-off from its opening to place second. Oscar winner Viola Davis stars in the history-based tale of an all-female army of African warriors.

In third place was the re-release of super-hit Avatar from director James Cameron. The 20th Century film took in an estimated US$10 million – most of it on big Imax screens – for the Friday-through-Sunday period.

Gross said that was only a “fair” opening, but he noted that the film was a slow starter in 2009 before going on to set an all-time record of US$2.8 billion in global ticket sales.

The studio hopes the re-release will build a head of interest big enough to offset the huge US$250 million budget of highly anticipated sequel Avatar: The Way of Water, due in December.

Fourth place went to another 20th Century film, Barbarian, at US$4.8 million. The horror film stars Georgina Campbell and Bill Skarsgard.

And in fifth was A24‘s blood-soaked slasher film Pearl, at US$1.9 million. Mia Goth stars.

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Rounding out the top 10 were See How They Run (US$1.9 million); Bullet Train (US$1.8 million); DC League of Super-Pets (US$1.8 million); Top Gun: Maverick (US$1.6 million); and Minions: The Rise of Gru (US$1 million). AFP