{"id":48684,"date":"2025-09-28T18:16:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T18:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/48684\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T18:16:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T18:16:08","slug":"one-battle-after-another-begins-its-titanic-box-office-challenge-with-22-4-million-opening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/48684\/","title":{"rendered":"‘One Battle After Another’ Begins Its Titanic Box Office Challenge With $22.4 Million Opening"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Thomas Anderson and Leonardo DiCaprio\u2019s \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d faces a titanic \u2014 pun intended \u2014 challenge in the weeks ahead as Warner Bros. hopes to turn this weekend\u2019s $22.4 million domestic\/48.5 million worldwide opening into a lengthy theatrical run akin to the ones enjoyed by autumn Oscar contenders in decades past. <\/p>\n

Reception for the politically charged thriller has been sky high across the board with Rotten Tomatoes<\/a> scores of 96% critics and 86% audience along with an A on CinemaScore. But any pre-release interest drummed up by the talent attached and the glowing critical reviews seems predominantly amongst cinephiles, as this opening for \u201cOne Battle\u201d is consistent with the $23.2 million opening of DiCaprio\u2019s last film, \u201cKillers of the Flower Moon,\u201d in fall 2023. <\/p>\n

With a reported budget of at least $130 million, \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d is one of Warner\u2019s big gambles on high-budget original films by acclaimed filmmakers. That risk paid off in a big way this past spring with the $366 million theatrical run of \u201cSinners\u201d and will be taken again next spring with Maggie Gyllenhaal\u2019s \u201cThe Bride!\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

By sheer virtue of being Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s first film with a wide release opening, \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d will easily become the highest grossing film of his career, passing the $77 million global total of \u201cThere Will Be Blood\u201d in 2007. But the hope for Warner is that this film can leg out like many of the adult dramas that DiCaprio starred in during the 2010s, from \u201cThe Departed\u201d to \u201cOnce Upon a Time\u2026in Hollywood. <\/p>\n

The weeks ahead will reveal whether there is still an appetite among the masses to see such performances from the Oscar winner in theaters, or if it is among the growing list of Hollywood offerings that most people choose to see on streaming if at all. <\/p>\n

Also opening this weekend is Universal\/DreamWorks\u2019 \u201cGabby\u2019s Dollhouse,\u201d a film adaptation of DreamWorks\u2019 hit Netflix kids\u2019 series that earned a $13.7 million opening weekend. While lower than the $22.7 million opening of another movie based on a show for kids under 10, \u201cPaw Patrol: The Mighty Movie,\u201d \u201cGabby\u201d should play well among moms and daughters over the next several weeks.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Jodie\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

And like \u201cPaw Patrol,\u201d it is in merch sales where \u201cGabby\u2019s Dollhouse\u201d will make the majority of its money. Among the myriad partnerships Universal and DreamWorks have made with \u201cGabby\u2019s Dollhouse\u201d are ones with Lego, which created special playsets connected to the film, and Spin Master, which since the series\u2019 debut in 2021 has sold over 4 million dollhouses. <\/p>\n

Among holdovers, Sony\/Crunchyroll\u2019s \u201cDemon Slayer: Infinity Castle\u201d and Warner\/New Line\u2019s \u201cThe Conjuring: Last Rites\u201d are in a tight race for the No. 3 spot with $7.1 million for \u201cDemon Slayer.\u201d That puts the anime film past $600 million worldwide with an anime record $117 million domestic, as it is set to surpass the $615 million global run of \u201cSuperman\u201d later this week. <\/p>\n

\u201cConjuring\u201d is right behind with $6.9 million in its fourth weekend, bringing it to a total of $161.5 million domestic and $435 million worldwide, both franchise records for \u201cThe Conjuring.\u201d <\/p>\n

Completing the top 5 is Lionsgate\u2019s \u201cThe Strangers \u2014 Chapter 2,\u201d the second part of a standalone relaunch trilogy of the 2008 home invasion slasher film. The film earned a $5.9 million opening weekend from 2,690 locations, half of the $11.8 million launch of \u201cThe Strangers \u2014 Chapter 1\u201d in May 2024. <\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Sean\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul Thomas Anderson and Leonardo DiCaprio\u2019s \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d faces a titanic \u2014 pun intended \u2014 challenge…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[156,409,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-48684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}