Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum’s The Lost City is on track for a $30 million domestic premiere after earning $11.6 million from 4,252 theaters, marking a significant win for the box office recovery.
So far, men under the age of 35 have driven the recovery, while titles dependent on older adults – particularly older women – have lagged behind.
Paramount’s Lost City, an action-packed romance-adventure set back in the Romancing the Stone era, bucks this trend in significant ways. Around 60 percent of Friday ticket buyers were female, while a whopping 47 percent were over the age of 35.
Daniel Radcliffe, of Harry Potter fame, also stars in the film, which delighted crowds at the recent SXSW Fest when it had its world premiere there.
Bullock plays a reclusive romance-adventure writer who goes on a promotional tour with her beautiful cover model (Tatum). She is kidnapped by an eccentric billionaire (Radcliffe) and a real adventure ensues.
The Batman continues to do well and should gross around $19 million to finish at No. 2 over the weekend after surpassing the $300 million mark domestically earlier this week.
Indian action pic RRR is also making headlines this weekend and should finish in third place with a North American debut grossing at least $11 million from 1,160 locations, a record for an Indian film. Distributor Sarigami treats the film as an event offer and charges more for tickets.
The climbing adventure Infinite Storm (Bleecker Street) starring Naomi Watts isn’t doing too well. The film chose to debut nationally or in 1,525 locations. Forecasts show the Bleecker Street publication to open at less than $1 million.
At the specialty box office, the acclaimed Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24), starring Michelle Yeoh, breaks out with a projected average of nearly $60,000 over its opening weekend from 10 locations in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Mothering Sunday (Sony Pictures Classics), starring Odessa Young, opens in five cinemas. The projected average of the film weekend per location is estimated to be around $1,800.
Among the holdovers in the top 10, Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home will still have plenty to offer. It is only the third film in history to surpass $800 million domestically, behind Avengers: Endgame and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.