Bong Joon Ho’s ‘Mickey 17’ tops box office with $19.1 million
This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows actors Anamaria Vartolomei, left, and Robert Pattinson, center, with filmmaker Bong Joon Ho on the set of “Mickey 17.” (Jonathan Olley/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)
LOS ANGELES – Director Bong Joon-Ho’s futuristic comedy/thriller “Mickey 17” opened atop the domestic box office this weekend, taking in $19.1 million to lead all films in North America, according to industry estimates released Sunday.
After three weeks in first place, “Captain America: Brave New World” slipped to second with $8.5 million, Comscore reported.
The underwater thriller “Last Breath” was third with $4.2 million Friday through Sunday in its second weekend in theaters in the United States and Canada.
“The Monkey,” a horror film based on a Stephen King story, earned $3.9 million in its third weekend, followed by “Paddington in Peru” with $3.8 million in its fourth weekend.
Rounding out the top 10 domestic releases were “Dog Man” ($3.5 million), “Anora” ($1.8 million), “Mufasa: The Lion King” ($1.7 million), “Rule Breakers” ($1.5 million) and “In the Lost Lands” ($1 million).
This weekend’s overall three-day box office haul was estimated at $56 million. The year-to-date total is $1.16 billion — up 1.28 percent from the figure at this time last year, according to Comscore.
Originally set for release in March 2024, Bong Joon Ho’s follow-up to the Oscar-winning “Parasite” faced several delays, which he has attributed to extenuating circumstances around the Hollywood strikes.
Based on the novel “Mickey7” by Edward Ashton, Pattinson plays an expendable employee who dies on missions and is reprinted time and time again. Steven Yeun, Naomi Ackie, Toni Collette and Mark Ruffalo also star.
It opened in 3,807 locations domestically, performing best in New York and Los Angeles. Premium large format showings, including IMAX screens, also accounted for nearly half of its opening weekend.
Internationally, it did especially well in Korea, where it made an estimated $14.6 million.
Jeff Goldstein, who heads domestic distribution for Warner Bros., said, “47 percent of the audience saw it in premium format, which shows that there’s a big interest from cinema fans to see the movie.”
“Director Bong is one of the few marquee directors out there along with Denis Villeneuve, Quentin Tarantino and Chris Nolan whose fans really drive moviegoing,” he added. (With CNS report)
