LOS ANGELES, March 10, (AP): “Parasite” filmmaker Bong Joon Ho’s original science fiction film “Mickey 17” opened in first place on the North American box office charts. According to studio estimates Sunday, the Robert Pattinson-led film earned $19.1 million in its first weekend in theaters, which was enough to dethrone “Captain America: Brave New World” after a three-week reign. Overseas, “Mickey 17” has already made $34.2 million, bringing its worldwide total to $53.3 million. But profitability for the film is a long way off: It cost a reported $118 million to produce, which does not account for millions spent on marketing and promotion. A week following the Oscars, where “Anora” filmmaker Sean Baker made an impassioned speech about the importance of the theatrical experience - for filmmakers to keep making movies for the big screens, for distributors to focus on theatrical releases and for audiences to keep going - “Mickey 17” is perhaps the perfect representation of this moment in the business, or at least an interesting case study. It’s an original film from an Oscar-winning director led by a big star that was afforded a blockbuster budget and given a robust theatrical release by Warner Bros., one of the few major studios remaining.

Struggle
But despite all of that, and reviews that were mostly positive (79% on RottenTomatoes), audiences did not treat it as an event movie, and it may ultimately struggle to break even. Originally set for release in March 2024, Bong Joon Ho’s follow-up to the Oscar-winning “Parasite” faced several delays, which he has attributed to extenuating circumstances around the Hollywood strikes. Based on the novel “Mickey7” by Edward Ashton, Pattinson plays an expendable employee who dies on missions and is reprinted time and time again. Steven Yeun, Naomi Ackie, Toni Collette and Mark Ruffalo also star. It opened in 3,807 locations domestically, performing best in New York and Los Angeles. Premium large format showings, including IMAX screens, also accounted for nearly half of its opening weekend. Internationally, it did especially well in Korea, where it made an estimated $14.6 million. Jeff Goldstein, who heads domestic distribution for Warner Bros., said, “47% of the audience saw it in premium format, which shows that there’s a big interest from cinema fans to see the movie.” “Director Bong is one of the few marquee directors out there along with Denis Villeneuve, Quentin Tarantino and Chris Nolan whose fans really drive moviegoing,” he added.