{"id":170127,"date":"2025-09-20T17:42:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T17:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/170127\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T17:42:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T17:42:09","slug":"him-leads-opening-day-big-bold-beautiful-journey-bombing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/170127\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Him’ Leads Opening Day, ‘Big Bold Beautiful Journey’ Bombing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tUniversal\u2019s \u201cHim<\/a>\u201d debuted in second place on Friday at the domestic box office, just a bit behind last weekend\u2019s anime smash \u201cDemon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba \u2013 Infinity Castle.\u201d Meanwhile, Sony\u2019s cosmic romance \u201cA Big Bold Beautiful Journey<\/a>\u201d is proving a theatrical bust with a debut outside the top five.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHim\u201d skimmed $6.47 million on its opening day (including $2 million from preview screenings) from 3,168 locations in North America. The movie is also sharing Imax and other premium large format auditoriums with \u201cDemon Slayer,\u201d which means a boost from higher ticket prices. The Faustian football fable, directed by Justin Tipping and produced by Jordan Peele\u2019s banner Monkeypaw Productions, is now projecting a $15 million opening weekend. That\u2019d be behind initial projections for a debut north of $18 million, plus it\u2019d likely put the R-rated horror original in second place behind \u201cDemon Slayer.\u201d Still, it\u2019s not a nonstarter given the film\u2019s relatively modest $27 million production budget.<\/p>\n

\n\tMore troubling is how rough the buzz around \u201cHim\u201d is and how that could impact its theatrical prospects moving forward. The movie was roundly rejected by critics and general audiences aren\u2019t any warmer, with moviegoer survey firm Cinema Score polling a bad C- grade among early viewers. Horror tends to be a more divisive genre, but this kind of response hardly portends strong staying power. \u201cHim\u201d will also face some genre competition next weekend when Lionsgate\u2019s \u201cThe Strangers \u2013 Chapter 2\u201d opens.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith a release timed to the starting weeks of the NFL season, \u201cHim\u201d follows a rising pro quarterback (Tyriq Withers) who weighs selling his soul for GOAT status, tempted by his mentor (Marlon Wayans).<\/p>\n

\n\tMuch further down the charts, Sony\u2019s \u201cA Big Bold Beautiful Journey\u201d meandered to $1.4 million across Friday and preview screenings from 3,330 locations. The R-rated original fantasy, which stars Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie, will be lucky to hit even half of its pre-weekend projections for a debut north of $8 million.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a rough outing for Sony, which hadn\u2019t landed a big domestic opening all year until its anime label Crunchyroll scored with the licensed release of \u201cDemon Slayer\u201d last weekend. Sony spent $45 million to acquire global rights<\/a> to \u201cA Big Bold Beautiful Journey\u201d out of the 2024 European Film Market. It\u2019s almost certain that the film won\u2019t recoup that spend in theaters.<\/p>\n

\n\tProps to Sony for betting on originality. The movie must\u2019ve seemed an enticing prospect, with Farrell attached and Robbie starring in her first theatrical follow-up to the megasmash \u201cBarbie.\u201d \u201cA Big Bold Beautiful Journey\u201d also started as a Black List script and drew critical darling auteur Kogonada (of Charli Xcx\u2019s \u201cKogonada Summer\u201d shoutout<\/a>) for the director\u2019s first stab at a wide theatrical release. But the package didn\u2019t even pan out critically, landing largely negative reviews. Audiences are relatively cold too, polling a B- grade from Cinema Score. It seems unlikely \u201cA Big Bold Beautiful Journey\u201d will stick around long in theaters.<\/p>\n

\n\tSony can at least take solace in \u201cDemon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle<\/a>\u201d still vying for first place. As expected, the epic length R-rated anime is facing a big plummet from its opening weekend, as most fans flocked to the earliest screenings possible. Still, with $4.56 million on Friday and projections for a $16.3 million sophomore outing (which would mark a 77% drop), \u201cInfinity Castle\u201d is primed to lead domestic charts once again. The event movie, intended as the first in a franchise-capping trilogy for the property, will cross $100 million domestic this weekend \u2014 only the 15th film of 2025 to notch that milestone. On Thursday, it surpassed \u201cPok\u00e9mon: The First Movie \u2013 Mewtwo Strikes Back\u201d ($85 million) to become the highest-grossing anime movie ever released in North America.<\/p>\n

\n\tWarner Bros. looks to take third place with \u201cThe Conjuring: Last Rites,\u201d which exorcised another $3.7 million from audiences on Friday, marking a 56% drop from its daily total last week. In its third weekend of release, the New Line presentation now stands at $141.9 million domestic. It\u2019s expected to soon pass up its Warner horror peer \u201cWeapons\u201d ($148.9 million) and take the rank as the 12th-biggest release of the year.<\/p>\n

\n\tLionsgate\u2019s \u201cThe Long Walk\u201d is eyeing fourth place, trudging to another $1.8 million on Friday. It\u2019s projecting a $6.3 million second weekend for a 46% drop from its modest opening. Domestic total on the Stephen King adaptation looks to hit $22.7 million through the first 10 days.<\/p>\n

\n\tFocus Features\u2019 \u201cDownton Abbey: The Grand Finale\u201d actually was ahead on Friday with $1.9 million, though it\u2019s projected for fifth with $6 million in its second weekend \u2014 a sizable 66% drop from its opening. Much like with \u201cDemon Slayer,\u201d it seems a lot of \u201cDownton\u201d fans prioritized early screenings for this one. \u201cThe Grand Finale,\u201d meant as a send-off for the beloved British television series, should button up to a $31.4 million domestic total after its sophomore outing.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlso opening this weekend alongside \u201cHim,\u201d Angel Studios has its own football feature with the Michael Chiklis-starring \u201cThe Senior\u201d in 2,405 locations. The film, based on the true story of a 59-year-old who returns to college sports, earned $1.25 million across Friday and preview screenings and is eyeing an opening in seventh place. Cinema Score turned in a glowing A grade. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Universal\u2019s \u201cHim\u201d debuted in second place on Friday at the domestic box office, just a bit behind last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[98238,61711,88,41700,206],"class_list":["post-170127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-a-big-bold-beautiful-journey","tag-demon-slayer-kimetsu-no-yaiba-infinity-castle","tag-entertainment","tag-him","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}