{"id":201929,"date":"2025-10-04T17:20:05","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T17:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/201929\/"},"modified":"2025-10-04T17:20:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T17:20:05","slug":"taylor-swifts-showgirl-beats-smashing-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/201929\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Beats ‘Smashing Machine’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe October box office begins caught between The Rock and a fan base. Taylor Swift<\/a>\u2018s \u201cThe Official Release Party of a Show Girl\u201d will win the weekend after earning $15.8 million on Friday from 3,702 locations. Meanwhile, the Dwayne Johnson drama \u201cThe Smashing Machine<\/a>\u201d is looking weary, pacing on the low side of its projections for a third-place debut.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s been nearly two years since Swift ruled the box office with her concert doc \u201cTaylor Swift: The Eras Tour,\u201d which reached new heights with a $96 million opening weekend \u2014 the second-highest ever for an October release. \u201cThe Official Release Party of a Show Girl\u201d won\u2019t be the same blockbuster force, but it\u2019s a more unique event. The release, handled by AMC Theatres Distribution, was only announced two weeks ago, with little promotion beyond the Swiftie sphere. It\u2019s set to leave screens after Sunday, with a limited three-day run. Swift, a career-long numerology pusher, fixed ticket prices at $12 \u2014 higher than the national average, but lower than those in major markets. That doesn\u2019t extend to premium large format auditoriums like Dolby though, where stubs come with an upcharge.<\/p>\n

\n\tBeyond those distinguishing factors, \u201cThe Official Release Party\u201d also stretches the definition of a movie. Timed to promote Swift\u2019s newly released 12th studio album, the release packages a music video, behind-the-scenes footage and profanity-free lyric videos for new songs in an 89-minute runtime. On social media, Swift said dancing is \u201coptional but very much encouraged.\u201d Her fans are turning out in force for the theatrical experience, pacing the release for an opening weekend between $25 million and $30 million. No surprise: audience survey firm Cinema Score polled a superlative \u201cA+\u201d grade among early viewers.<\/p>\n

\n\tCaught in the Swiftie stampede, A24\u2019s \u201cThe Smashing Machine\u201d earned about $2.6 million across Friday and previews from 3,345 locations. The UFC biopic \u2014 headlined by Johnson, turning a new leaf with an R-rated dramatic role \u2014 had been positioned as the primary new release for this weekend until \u201cThe Official Release Party of a Showgirl\u201d planted its flag in September, taking on a fair share of premium large-format auditoriums with it.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSmashing Machine\u201d is now hoping to scratch its pre-weekend tracking, which had projected an opening north of $8 million. It looks likely that it ends up as Johnson\u2019s lowest opening ever as a lead: a low mark currently held by the 2010 thriller \u201cFaster\u201d ($8.5 million). It\u2019s a limp kickoff for the drama. At a $50 million production budget, \u201cSmashing Machine\u201d is tied for A24\u2019s most expensive film ever, matching the costs of last year\u2019s dystopian road film \u201cCivil War.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe muted opening for \u201cSmashing Machine\u201d follows a hearty promotional push from Johnson and co-star Emily Blunt, plus a splashy debut at the Venice Film Festival, where filmmaker Benny Safdie, one of the two brothers who helmed A24\u2019s 2019 hit \u201cUncut Gems,\u201d took home the prize for best director. Reviews are positive, though they\u2019ve come down a touch since the strong fest rollout. But audiences seem far less keen on the film, with CinemaScore polling a lukewarm \u201cB-\u201d grade.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, Warner Bros.\u2019 \u201cOne Battle After Another<\/a>\u201d took in $3.3 million on Friday, down 43% from its opening day figure. It\u2019s the start of a good hold for Paul Thomas Anderson and Leonardo DiCaprio\u2019s very contemporary comedy epic, boosted by fantastic word-of-mouth, awards season hype and demand for premium large-format screenings. \u201cOne Battle\u201d kept the majority of Imax venues, even after losing some to the new releases. But at a production budget north of $130 million, it still needs many more weeks of staying power to turn a profit in theaters. Domestic total looks to hit $42 million through Sunday.<\/p>\n

\n\tFalling to fourth place, Universal\u2019s release of \u201cGabby\u2019s Dollhouse: The Movie\u201d is proving a less sustainable draw, adding $1.2 million on Friday and projecting a $4.7 million second-weekend haul, which would mark a sharp 66% fall. Family features typically show stronger legs than that, but the DreamWorks Animation production isn\u2019t spinning much theatrical draw from the streaming popularity of the Netflix series it\u2019s based on. Projected to hit a $21 million domestic total through Sunday, \u201cGabby\u2019s Dollhouse\u201d is slowing down fast.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Conjuring: Last Rites\u201d is still sticking around the top five, even coming up on a month of release. The Warner Bros. and New Line horror sequel added $1.2 million on Friday for a 41% drop from its daily gross a week ago. Domestic total is now at $164.9 million.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlso opening this weekend, Disney\u2019s re-release of \u201cAvatar: The Way of Water,\u201d timed ahead of the threequel \u201cFire and Ash,\u201d paddled to $1.1 million across Friday and previews in 2,140 locations. The reissue got some premium large-format auditoriums, sharing with \u201cSmashing Machine,\u201d \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d and Taylor Swift. Back in 2022, the first \u201cAvatar\u201d received a similar fall re-release ahead of \u201cThe Way of Water,\u201d landing a $10 million opening. \u201cThe Way of Water\u201d might not even nab a quarter. of that, but audiences are likely less inclined to revisit a three-year-old movie than a 13-year-old one.<\/p>\n

\n\tFurther down, IFC Films has the horror indie \u201cGood Boy\u201d in 1,650 venues, coming from its horror label Shudder after good reviews out of an SXSW Festival premiere in the spring. The supernatural feature, shot entirely from the perspective of a dog, earned about $980,000 on its opening day and looks to debut near the bottom of the top 10. Cinema Score turned in a \u201cB\u201d grade.<\/p>\n

\n\tOutside the top 10, Focus Features booked 865 locations to debut \u201cAnemone,\u201d a foggy drama starring Daniel Day-Lewis in his first role in eight years. The drama, directed by the star\u2019s son Ronan Day-Lewis and co-starring Sean Bean, earned $310,000 across Friday and opening day and looks to earn $900,000 in its debut. Reviews were just so-so out of the New York Film Festival premiere last week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The October box office begins caught between The Rock and a fan base. Taylor Swift\u2018s \u201cThe Official Release…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88,89051,4915,102219,74423],"class_list":{"0":"post-201929","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-one-battle-after-another","10":"tag-taylor-swift","11":"tag-taylor-swift-the-official-release-party-of-a-showgirl","12":"tag-the-smashing-machine"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201929","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=201929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}