One Battle After Another

Source: Warner Bros

One Battle After Another

Director Paul Thomas Anderson scored the best North American opening weekend of his career as One Battle After Another delivered another number one debut for Warner Bros on an estimated $22.4m.

The Oscar-tipped action adventure earned an A CinemaScore and opened in 3,634 locations. The reported $130m price indicates there is some way to go until it breaks even above $200m worldwide – the film earned around $26.1m internationally – however, this is an excellent result for an auteur director who has delivered a 162-minute long R-rated ensemble piece.

Word of mouth is expected to drive a solid second session and beyond as audiences find the film. Anderson’s highest-grossing film thus far in North America remains his 2007 drama There Will Be Blood, which finished on $40.2m. For Leonardo DiCaprio, this is below the $34.5m average for the Oscar-winning star’s last five opening weekends, but the roll-out is expected to take time.

One Battle After Another is loosely based on Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland and sees DiCaprio lead the contemporary story as a former revolutionary who reconnects with his old compadres when an obsessive colonel resurfaces and goes after his daughter. Teyana Taylor, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, and Chase Infiniti round out the key cast.

It shot on VistaVision and there are said to be only four venues in the world equipped to exhibit the widescreen format – three in the US and the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square in London. Accordingly, it over-indexed in Imax, earning roughly $4.6m from 412 screens in North America to claim 21% of the overall weekend. Nine locations presented the film in Imax’s 1570 format.

Universal’s children-friendly Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie based on the Netflix children’s series arrived in second place on $13.7m from 3,500 sites, and Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle from Sony/Crunchyroll ranked third on $7.1m for a $118.2m tally after three weekends. Lionsgate opened horror The Strangers: Chapter 2 in fifth place on $5.9m from 2,690 sites – considerably behind Chapter 1’s $11.8m debut in 2024 en route to $35m.

In its second weekend, Sony’s acquisition A Big Bold Beautiful Journey with Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell fell 62% to settle in tenth place on $1.3m for a $5.9m running total.

Sony Pictures Classics released Scarlett Johnasson’s Cannes Un Certain Regard drama Eleanor The Great starring June Squibb. It arrived on $935,577 on 892 screens.

Topics