Despite competition from COVID-19, video game action comedy Free Guy topped the North American box office in its opening weekend, with $28.4 million, according to preliminary statistics released Sunday by trade company Exhibitor Relations.
Shawn Levy directed the film, which was produced by the Walt Disney Co-owned 20th Century Fox and had a contractual theatre release date set for the roughly $100 million project.
Free Guy succeeded with an old-school formula
Free Guy succeeded with an old-school approach after a few weeks of dropping audiences and dismal premieres during the delta variant rise: an original, star-driven film with positive word-of-mouth showing only in North American theatres.
“Under challenging circumstances, this is an excellent opening. The Delta variant is costing a lot of money “According to AFP, David A Gross, who leads the consultancy firm Franchise Entertainment Research, there has been an increase in coronavirus cases.
Free Guy, which opened in 4,165 theatres across North America, was predicted to generate roughly $20 million at the box office. Its surprise good start backed up what some analysts have been saying all year: hybrid releases that send new films straight to streaming platforms can affect ticket sales dramatically.
Free Guy had a “A” CinemaScore from a male-dominated crowd and received positive reviews (82 percent on Rotten Tomatoes). (Disney estimated that about 60% of viewers were men.) Internationally, Free Guy grossed $22.5 million.
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