Gladiator II was revealed to the world outside the US this weekend. It pulled in $87 million in box office from those markets, in the process it grabbed the best international start for a Ridley Scott movie and Paramount’s highest starting R-rated feature.
Audience word of mouth appears to be outstripping the critical response, with the general feeling that it gives audiences exactly what they want. It still has the US and China to go, meaning it could turn into a decent moneyspinner for Paramount.
Another movie that seems to be splitting critics and audiences is the Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans-led holiday adventure comedy Red One. Critics were largely sniffy, while audiences rated it as an A-.
It hasn’t helped Red One at the box office though. This weekend it grabbed an estimated $34 million domestically. Strong enough start for the subject matter and time of year, but this cost $250 million and is packed with talent.
It opened last weekend overseas and grabbed $14.7 million in its second weekend. A drop of 43%. It might have some legs to help prevent total disaster and could well hang around until Christmas which is 4 weeks away.
Venom: The Last Dance passed the previous installment to tale its worldwide total to $436.1 million worldwide, while The Wild Robot pushed on to a total of $308.5 million worldwide.
Venom and The Wild Robot are split domestically by The Best Christmas Pageant Ever ($5.4 million) and the very well-reviewed Heretic ($5.2 million) that is getting notices for Hugh Grant’s scene-stealing bad guy.