Martin Scorsese‘s Killers of the Flower Moon is opening at No. 2 in the box office with a total of $44 million USD.
According to reports, the crime epic’s impressive debut earned $23 million USD from 3,628 theaters in North America over the weekend on top of $21 million USD from 63 international markets. This marks the filmmaker’s best opening since Shutter Island’s $41 million USD debut in 2010 and his overall third-best after The Departed in 2006. “Reviews and audience scores are superb. And Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro are strong draws overseas,” David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research said. “Between word-of-mouth, press coverage and eventual awards nominations, the picture is set up for a strong run now.”
Variety adds that Apple, who acquired the film, is testing out this new method with its upcoming releases Napoleon and Argylle. “The production and distribution of ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ is breaking new ground,” Gross added. “If ‘flexibility’ is the new mantra of the theatrical movie business, then this is a significant success.”
An adaptation of of David Grann’s non-fiction book of the same name, Killers of the Flower Moon is set in 1920s Oklahoma and investigates the murders of the Osage people when massive oil deposits were found underneath their land. Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro star alongside Brendan Fraser, Jesse Plemons and Lily Gladstone.
Elsewhere in entertainment, watch the trailer for Saltburn starring Jacob Elordi.
