With an estimated $3.1 Million between the sold out fan event screenings and Thursday previews, Don’t Worry Darling is coming in ahead of projections with a $9.4 Million Friday (including that $3.1 Million made from previews) and a projected weekend take of $20 Million. It seems audiences were eager to see what all the fuss was about with this one in spite of critics giving them fair warning that it just isn’t very good. Earlier this week we predicted a $17 million opening, but the Olivia Wilde-directed film seems to be pulling ahead of expectation.
Coming in second place is the Viola Davis fronted The Woman King. Posting strong numbers all week the film should finish its second weekend with between $10 and $11 Million indicating solid word of mouth.
Avatar’s re-release seems to be a successful one with a projected weekend haul of $8-$10 Million. The good news is that those numbers are over 95% in Imax 3D and Real D 3D showings proving that audiences wanted to fully immerse themselves in the world of Pandora again, paving the way for Avatar: The Way of Water to do well this December.
Horror stand outs Pearl and Barbarian are holding steady in the top five thanks to solid (and much deserved) word of mouth, while Top Gun: Maverick continues its record breaking theatrical run.
It will be interesting to see what the final tally is for these films as Don’t Worry Darling had strong audience reactions from its preview screenings, but the B- Cinemascore means general audiences are in agreement with the critics and Saturday numbers may take a tumble.
Did you see Don’t Worry Darling in theaters? Let us know in the comments if it is worth checking out or if the critics were right and this is one that can be skipped, and don’t forget to check back tomorrow when we have a full rundown of this weekends box office.