‘The Wild Robot’ Takes No. 1 Spot At Box Office
by Molly Bohannon · ForbesTopline
“The Wild Robot” took the top spot at the box office and exceeded many projections for its debut weekend, multiple outlets reported Sunday, as Francis Ford Coppola’s self-financed “Megalopolis” flopped.
Key Facts
“The Wild Robot”—a new DreamWorks animated film—grossed an estimated $35 million in its debut weekend, which is the third best opening an animated movie has seen in September ever, Deadline reported.
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” held strong and took the second spot at the box office this weekend, grossing $16 million in its fourth weekend in theaters.
The third box office spot went to “Transformers One,” which grossed about $9 million, followed by “Devara Part 1,” an Indian Telugu-language action film that grossed $5.5 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Big Number
98%. That’s what “The Wild Robot” scored on Rotten Tomatoes among both critics and verified audience members. The 98% score places the film among the top 10 best-reviewed computer-animated films of all time on the website, and makes it the highest-scoring animated movie released this decade.
Tangent
“Megalopolis,” a sci-fi epic from Francis Ford Coppola, crashed at its box office debut, drawing in just $4 million from more than 1,800 North American theaters, multiple outlets reported, giving it the sixth place at the box office. Coppola self-financed the film, which cost about $120 million and has received mixed reviews. Coppola told the Associated Press before the movie premiered that he wasn’t too concerned about the film’s financial success, saying, “I say: Give me less money and give me more friends.”
Key Background
“The Wild Robot” exceeded debut projections from The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, which predicted the film would bring in between $24 and $30 million. The film stars Lupita Nyong’o as the voice of the main robot and features Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Stephanie Hsu and Catherine O’Hara in supporting roles. It follows Roz, a robot who is shipwrecked on an abandoned island and builds relationships with the animals there.