Ticket to Paradise, the Bali-set romantic comedy from Universal and Working Title, ended the weekend in second place on the box office charts and is on track to cross $80.26 million internationally for a cumulative total of $96.6 million globally.
The film is proving to be a huge win for adult-skewing feature films, and romantic comedies in general after it launched with a $16.3 million opening weekend domestically. The film marks the highest domestic opening for George Clooney since Tomorrowland in 2015, and the highest opening for co-star Julia Roberts since appearing in Wonder in 2017. The film is currently carrying an A- CinemaScore, with an additional 87% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes, and Universal is anticipating that strong word-of-mouth will carry the film to further success in the coming weeks.
Having been released in Australia on September 15, followed by the United Kingdom on September 20, it looks like a smart piece of counter-programming from Universal to place the film up against the superhero behemoth Black Adam which ended the weekend in the top spot. The movie opened in 3,543 North American theaters with an average take of $4,612 per theater.
Budgeted at $60 million, the film looks like another victory for director Ol Parker following the success of his previous directorial effort, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again which also skewed 35 and older, and passed $400 million at the worldwide box office. Parker, who also wrote the sleeper hit The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and its sequel, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel — which were both smash hits with older-skewing audiences — seems to have justified his pick to helm the A-list-powered comedy.
The movie's plot involves a bickering ex-couple (Clooney and Roberts) who, nearly two decades after their marriage ended in acrimonious circumstances, are forced to join forces to stop their recently graduated daughter from making the same mistake they did. Kaitlyn Dever co-stars as their daughter, alongside Billie Lourd, Maxime Bouttier, and Lucas Bravo. Clooney and Roberts reunite after playing opposite each other in the Oceans Eleven franchise. Collider's Emma Kiely said of their performances: "Julia Roberts and George Clooney are having the time of their lives and there has to be something said for that."
The film is due to stream on Peacock 45 days after its theatrical debut in the United States and is playing in theaters now. You can check out the trailer for the movie below: