Can Harriet Survive November's Box Office
Focus Features’ Harriet was the second highest grossing film its opening night (Nov. 2nd) earning a modest $3 million— the night’s biggest movie was Terminator: Dark Fate which raked in $10 million. Despite facing mixed reviews, director Kasi Lemmons’ biopic was able to finish its first weekend with a strong gross of $12 million. Since, Harriet has earned about $33 million at the domestic box office which isn’t too promising of a figure considering its theatrical run is already starting to wind down. Without an international release to help boost its returns it might be quite challenging for Harriet to earn a profit off its estimated $17 million budget.
Lemmons’ film has also faced a tremendous amount of backlash since its announcement of casting Nigerian-British actress Cynthia Erivo. The outrage stems from the actress’ non-African American lineage and her past of mocking African-American culture on the internet. Because of this, many Black film goers have boycotted the project and refused to support the film’s theatrical in theaters.
A South New Jersey NAACP Chapter also canceled a planned screening of the film to stand in solidarity with Byron Allen, an entertainment entrepreneur, who has filed a civil rights lawsuit against Comcast, the owner of Harriet’s theatrical distributor Focus Features.
Regardless of the controversy encircling its production, Harriet’s box office numbers are expected to drop significantly in the coming weeks due to the releases of highly anticipated and star-duded films such as Ford v Ferrari (opening Nov. 15), Frozen II and Knives Out. With A24’s Waves, Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, 21 Bridges, and Queen and Slim also releasing this month, the chances of Harriet pulling in significant audience numbers is also quite slim.
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BOX OFFICE ROUNDUP: Korean auteur Bong Joon-Ho continues to stir up the cinema world with his universally acclaimed film Parasite. Joon-Ho’s latest feature has now grossed a total of $109,504,467 after slowly expanding to markets across the globe.
Abominable might not have been the most talked about animated-feature film of 2019, but the DreamWorks title splashed at the September box office. Despite competing against Hustlers, Downton Abbey, Ad Astra, and September’s biggest film It:Chapter 2, Abominable was able to gross $20,612,100 its opening weekend. The $75 million film, which is inspired off Chinese culture, earned a little over twice its budget with a worldwide gross of $172,170,205.
Black and Blue grossed a domestic total of $8,376,846 it’s opening weekend from 2,062 theaters. Since, the police thriller has earned a total of $21,514,420 at the —a very overwhelming $560,505 of that sum was from international ticket sales. With an estimated $12 million budget, the Tyresse Gibson, Naomi Harris and Mike Colter starred film will finish its theatrical run as a flop.
Gemini Man, Ang Lee’s latest feature which stars Will Smith, is nearing the end of its theatrical run with an underwhelming total worldwide gross of $169,349,064 just covering its estimated $139 million budget.
Elizabeth Bank’s iteration of Charlie's Angels released on Nov. 15 grossing a modest $8,351,109 its opening weekend from 3,452 theaters. Exactly a week since its release, the film’s worldwide box office total stands at $12,283,661. With several highly anticipated movies releasing in the weeks to come, it’ll be difficult for this estimated $46 million project to finish with a profitable theatrical run.