In a movie match-up almost as unlikely as Barbie and Oppenheimer, Martin Scorsese took on Taylor Swift in cinemas over the weekend.
And while the box office belonged for a second time to Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon got off to a strong start in Apple Studios’ first major theatrical gambit.
After a record-breaking opening weekend of 92.8 million dollars (£76.3 million), Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour took in an estimated 31 million dollars (£25.5 million) over the weekend from 3,855 locations, according to AMC Theatres.
In an unconventional deal, the cinema chain is distributing Swift’s concert film, and playing it only Thursdays through Sundays.
Most Swifties rushed to see the film on opening weekend, when a large percent of sales were driven by advance ticketing.
Sales dropped a steep 67% in its second weekend, potentially signifying that The Eras Tour was predominantly an opening-weekend phenomenon.
But The Eras Tour has still proved to be a movie event unlike any other.
Within days, it became the highest grossing concert film ever in North America, not accounting for inflation.
It has quickly accumulated 129.8 million dollars (£106.8 million) domestically.
More was riding on Killers Of The Flower Moon, a historical crime drama about a string of murders against the Osage nation in the early 1920s.
The film, which cost at least 200 million dollars (£164.5 million) to make, is the largest production yet from Apple Studios.
The streamer partnered with Paramount Pictures to release Scorsese’s adaptation of David Grann’s bestseller in 3,628 cinemas, with plans to later stream it on a not-yet-announced date on Apple TV+.
Killers Of The Flower Moon debuted with 23 million dollars (£18.9 million), marking the third best opening for 80-year-old Scorsese, following Shutter Island (41 million dollars – £33.7 million – in 2010) and The Departed (26.9 million dollars – £22.1 million – in 2006).
Though Scorsese’s latest opus, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro, will have a hard road to reaching profitability, it is a successful launch for a 206-minute-long adult-skewing drama – a type of movie that, outside Oppenheimer, has struggled mightily at the box office in recent years.
And Killers Of The Flower Moon, with rave reviews, an A- CinemaScore from audiences and the backing of a robust Oscar campaign, should continue to play well over the long haul.
It added 21 million dollars (£17.2 million) overseas.
Killers Of The Flower Moon also marks the best wide-release debut for a film from a streaming company.
While Netflix – which backed Scorsese’s last narrative feature, The Irishman, in 2019 – has charted a mostly limited approach to theatrical release, Apple and Amazon, which last year closed its purchase of MGM, have pursued more expansive theatrical strategies.
Earlier this year, Apple said it plans to spend one billion dollars a year making movies that will have theatrical releases before reaching its streaming service.
Apple is also behind Ridley Scott’s upcoming Napoleon, with Joaquin Phoenix, which Sony Pictures will distribute on November 22, and has partnered with Universal for Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle, due out on February 2.
Paramount had initially signed on to produce and distribute Killers Of The Flower Moon, but transitioned into the deal with Apple when costs of the project, shot during the pandemic, rose.
“If ‘flexibility’ is the new mantra of the theatrical movie business, then this is a significant success – it establishes a viable option for the companies,” David A Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research, said of the Killers Of The Flower Moon launch.
As dissimilar as Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour and Killers Of The Flower Moon are, they are alike in their extended run times.
A double feature of the weekend’s top two movies would have taken you six hours and 14 minutes, not counting ads and trailers.
Killers Of The Flower Moon also reeled in more young moviegoers than you might have expected.
Paramount said 44% of ticket buyers were under the age of 30.
The Exorcist: Believer, the horror sequel directed by David Gordon Green, came in a distant third with 5.6 million dollars in its third weekend of release.
The Universal, Blumhouse film has grossed 54.2 million dollars (£44.6 million) domestically.
Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie came in at number four with 4.5 million dollars in its fourth weekend.
The fifth spot went to the re-release of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, which collected 4.1 million dollars 30 years after it first landed in cinemas.
– Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian cinemas, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released on Monday.
1. Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, 31 million dollars (£25.5 million).
2. Killers Of The Flower Moon, 23 million dollars (£18.9 million).
3. The Exorcist: Believer, 5.6 million dollars (£4.6 million).
4. Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie, 4.5 million dollars (£3.7 million).
5. The Nightmare Before Christmas, 4.1 million dollars (£3.3 million).
6. Saw X, 3.6 million dollars (£2.9 million).
7. The Creator, 2.6 million dollars (£2.1 million).
8. Leo: Bloody Sweet, 2.1 million dollars (£1.72 million).
9. A Haunting in Venice, 1.1 million dollars (£905,074).
10. The Blind, one million dollars (£822,795).
