Tom Cruise in “Digger”.
Warner Bros.
Excavatoran apocalyptic satire starring Tom Cruise from director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, is expected to earn below already weak pre-release projections during its opening weekend in North American theaters.
Cruise stars in the film as Digger Rockwell, a powerful oil baron who navigates chaos when an ecological disaster he is responsible for threatens the future of the planet. Rated R, Excavator also stars Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Sandra Hüller and Jesse Plemons.
Excavator earned $1.2 million in previews in 3,000 North American theaters on Thursday before officially opening in 3,321 North American theaters on Friday.
A long-range projection published by Pro Ticketing on September 11, it was noted that the film was going to gross between $20 and $30 million. From there, projections plunged as Box office theory set the film for a domestic opening of $7.5 million to $12.5 million, while Warner Bros. forecasts called for the film to open between $12 and $15 million.
From Friday evening, the weekend number appears for Excavator is closest to Box office theory forecasts, such as Deadline predicts the film will gross $10 million in its first frame.
The trade publication noted that the $10 million opening is the lowest opening weekend for a Cruise film since the 2007 war drama. Lions for lambs earned $6 million. Deadline noted that the film – in which Cruise starred alongside Robert Redford and Meryl Streep – had a production budget of $35 million before prints and advertising costs.
Even before the production budget figure of Lions for lambs is adjusted for inflation, it is significantly less than the amount it took to manufacture Excavator. Variety reported Wednesday that Excavator “was given the green light at $125 million, but according to four informed sources, the budget ballooned to between $160 million and $180 million after exceeding the production schedule.” Variety also noted that Warner Bros. P&A was spending on Excavator was $100 million.
Should Deadline projection for Excavator Well, the film will debut at 4th place in the national top five.
Anne Hathaway in “Verity”.
Amazon MGM Studios/Alisha Wetherill
Anne Hathaway’s ‘Verity’ Set to Open No. 1
Adaptation of author Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel Truthwith Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett, is projected by Deadline opening with $32 million in ticket sales at 3,510 North American theaters.
Johnson plays Lowen Ashleigh, a struggling writer who moves to Verity Crawford’s (Hathaway) secluded estate to ghostwrite the legendary writer’s latest book. After arriving, Lowen discovers that Verity’s autobiographical notes appear to paint her husband, Jeremy (Hartnett), in a sinister light. Truth had a production budget of $40 million before P&A, according to Variety.
The horror comedy from director Zach Cregger resident Evil is projected by Deadline to earn $11.5 million domestically and finish at No. 2 this weekend, followed by Brad Pitt’s Deep Woods survival thriller The heart of the beast at No. 3 with $10.3 million.
If these projections are confirmed, this will stimulate resident Evil domestic revenues amount to $123.8 million and The heart of the beast at $37.7 million. resident Evil And The heart of the beast are playing in 3,259 and 3,481 North American theaters, respectively.
The Chris Hansen-inspired investigative crime drama Prime time — with Robert Pattinson as NBC Dateline to catch a predatorr journalist — is projected by Deadline to gain fifth place behind Excavator with $7.6 million in ticket sales at 2,894 North American theaters. If the project continues, it will boost prime time 10-day domestic total at $32.7 million.
Note: This box office report – including figures for Tom Cruise’s “Digger” and Anne Hathaway’s “Verity” – will be updated throughout the weekend with the latest estimates as they become available. Final box office figures for this weekend will be released on Monday.
Gn entert
