Renaissance: a movie by Beyoncé tops the weekend box-office charts. Ridley Scott’s controversial biopic collapses.
Ridley Scott’s Napoleon’s domination of the American box office was short-lived. The English filmmaker’s biopic came out of its second weekend of release with a clean slate. Renaissance, the film capturing Beyoncé’s tour, left only crumbs for the great historical fresco.
The superstar’s concert grossed $21 million, compared with $7.1 million for Napoleon, which plummeted by 66%! The film may finally have caught up with the more than mixed reviews. The idyll between the Emperor and Joséphine de Beauharnais grossed 45.7 million dollars over ten days on American soil. Modest for a film that cost $200 million. The other big release of the previous Thanksgiving weekend, Disney’s animated Wish, suffered a similar (bad) fate, losing over 60% of its viewers to take in just 7.4 million. Having had a disappointing and sluggish launch, this new tale will have a hard time relying on any word-of-mouth to recover.
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Not as strong as Taylor Swift
The only blockbuster to hold its own? The prologue to The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, which lost only half its audience in its third week. The story of the future president of Panem took second place on this weekend’s podium with $14 million receipts for a total of $121 million.
In third place was the Japanese disaster film Godzilla Minus One. This film defied all predictions, beating out American releases Silent Night and The Shift.
The weekend following the five-day Thanksgiving holiday is traditionally a quiet one. Renaissance was a breath of fresh air for exhibitors, even if Queen B drew far fewer fans than the other superstar of the moment, Taylor Swift. Her Eras Tour approached the $100 million mark at its launch.
No one expected Beyoncé to repeat this feat. Her fan community is older and less viral. Over 70% of Renaissance viewers are women, and just under half are aged between 25 and 34. On the other hand, Renaissance flopped abroad, grossing just $6.4 million.
Beyonce is bouncing back!.. Good read