‘Don’t Worry Baby’ tops North American box office after high-profile cast controversy

• The Warner Bros. film generated $19.2 million in ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada over the weekend, researcher Comscore Inc. estimated. on Sunday. That puts it below Boxoffice Pro’s $21.6 million estimate. The studio is projecting ticket sales of around $17 million.
• Re-release of the 2009 blockbuster Avatar have earned $10 million domestically, Comscore estimated, as Walt Disney Co. trying to drum up interest in the sequel, Avatar: The Path of Waterahead of its December debut.

Key insights

• The current period is slow for the industry as theater chains look ahead to potentially big movies later this year, including Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on November 11. Meanwhile, lower-budget films compete with re-releases of classics and foreign films as theater owners try to fill seats.
• Don’t worry, honey tells the story of residents of a fictional town called Victory, California, which was created and paid for by a secret company. This is Wilde’s second film since her directorial debut in 2019 Booksmartand stars Florence Pugh and Harry Styles. It has a 38% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, even though 80% of moviegoers said they liked it. It was made for $35 million. “We are extremely proud of this film and are pleased with these results given our modest production budget,” Warner Bros. said. in a statement.
• The film, which was made by Warner Bros. The New Line Cinema label was the subject of unusually intense press coverage prior to its release. According to Wilde, one of his stars, Shia LaBeouf, was fired and replaced with Styles. LaBeouf accused her of lying, saying he had backed out, while others speculated that a rift had also occurred between the director and Pugh.
• The audience for Don’t worry, honey is 66% female, most of them over the age of 18, the studio said. The woman king, a Sony Group film about a female-led band of African warriors that debuted at No. 1 last weekend, took second place. It sold $11.1 million in tickets, Comscore estimates.