Director Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling appears to have weathered the storm on its way to a projected $21 million opening weekend at the box office, after a $9.4 million Friday (including Thursday previews). Single-handedly fueling the tabloid news cycle for what seems like months, Don’t Worry Darling also braved poor reviews, more controversies than you can count on one hand, and intense behind-the-scenes drama.
Starring Florence Pugh and pop-star Harry Styles, Don’t Worry Darling is a Stepford Wives-esque original film that cost Warner Bros. $35 million to produce, and potentially millions more to market. It scored a so-so B- CinemaScore from opening day audiences, which doesn’t bode well for its performance in the long run. The reviews haven’t been glowing either. Collider’s own Brian Formo called it “a surface-level matinée thriller” that “doesn’t sting like it should in the end.”
The film also stars Wilde, Chris Pine, Gemma Chan, KiKi Layne, Nick Kroll and Kate Berlant. Women accounted for 66% of opening day audiences. Don’t Worry Darling is playing in over 4,100 North American theaters.
Understandably affected by this week’s new release, the similarly female-skewing The Woman King is expected to fall by 43% in its second weekend. Director Gina Prince-Bythewood’s historical drama, starring Viola Davis in the lead role, is expected to make $10 million in its sophomore weekend after a $2.95 million Friday, pushing its domestic total to $35 million. The film received glowing reviews and over-performed last weekend, reigning atop the box office charts.
A re-release of James Cameron’s Avatar, designed to drum up anticipation for December’s sequel Avatar: The Way of Water, made $3.2 million on Friday, and is expected to finish the weekend with around $9 million. The film’s domestic total now stands at around $760 million — the fourth-highest of all time behind Spider-Man: No Way Home ($814 million), Avengers: Endgame ($858 million) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($956 million). Worldwide, Avatar remains the highest-grossing film of all time (unadjusted for inflation, of course) with $2.85 billion.
Despite having fallen to the fourth spot, 20th Century Studios buzzy horror title Barbarian registered another spectacular hold — it is expected to fall by just 28% — in its third weekend. The word-of-mouth hit is expected to make $4.7 million this weekend, for a running domestic tally of over $25 million. Another horror film — A24’s Pearl — will round out the top five, pushing its domestic total to $6.6 million. Pearl is director Ti West’s prequel to his film X, which tapped out with around $14 million globally earlier this year. A sequel, titled MaXXXine, is in development.
Next weekend will see the release of Universal’s well-reviewed Bros, described as “first gay romantic comedy from a major studio featuring an entirely LGBTQ principal cast.” You can watch the Don’t Worry Darling trailer here, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.