#BoxOffice #VirusCasedemic
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“Wes Anderson’s latest film features an A-List cast including Bill Murray, Benicio Del Toro, Léa Seydoux, Frances McDormand and Timothée Chalamet +” — Paul Ebeling
In a win for the arthouse market, Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch posted the top opening theater average of the VirusCasedemic-era.
The Searchlight Pictures movie grossed $1.3-M from 52 cinemas in 14 domestic markets, or $25,000 per location. The previous best 3-day opening weekend average of the chaos-era belonged to Venom: Let There Be Carnage at $21,309.
The French Dispatch raises the bar in a significant way after doing impressive business in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Austin and other strongholds for arthouse audiences. It also reached beyond non-Anderson fans.
In the film, Bill Murray plays the editor of a fictitious American magazine in a quaint French town, whose staff assembles to prepare their final issue in this valentine to literary journalism.
Filmmaker Denis Villeneuve’s Dune wormed its way to a strong $40.1-M opening at the domestic box office.
The Legendary and Warner Bros. sci-fi epic opened simultaneously in 4,125 theaters across North America and on streamer HBO Max, a hybrid practice being used for all Y 2021 Warner movies because of the pandemic. Dune scored the best domestic opening of any such theatrical/HBO Max release to date.
It also delivered director Villeneuve the top domestic opening of his career. His previous biggest was Blade Runner 2049 ($32.8-N), not adjusted for inflation.
Have some fun this week, see a movie in a theater, Keep the Faith!
