Gina Prince-Bythewood‘s The Woman King took the top spot at the box office this weekend, with an opening of $19 million. The historical epic has received very good reviews, with a current approval rating of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. After premiering during this year’s edition of the Toronto International Film Festival where Joey reviewed it here, it will be interesting to see how the movie holds during the next few weeks.
Zach Cregger‘s Barbarian took the second spot, with $6.3 million. The film obtained a good hold from the previous weekend, with a drop of only 40% of that number. Barbarian‘s modest budget of $10 million should allow it to become profitable relatively quickly over the following month. Georgina Campbell and Bill Skarsgård star in this horror story alongside Justin Long.
Rounding out the top five, you can find A24’s prequel Pearl, with $3.12 million, also reviewed out of TIFF here by Joey. Below it, on the fourth position of the list, Tom George‘s See How They Run took in $3.1 million, very close to third spot. Bullet Train claimed the fifth spot, rounding out the first half of the top ten with $2.5 million during its seventh weekend in release.
The second half of the top ten is compromised of holdovers from the summer, except for Brett Morgen‘s documentary Moonage Daydream, which took the tenth position on the list by earning $1.2 million. This film displays previously unreleased footage from David Bowie‘s personal archives, also being the first documentary approved by the singer’s estate.
You can find the complete box office top ten for this weekend below:
1. The Woman King (TriStar): $19 million – 3,765 theaters
2. Barbarian (20th Century Studios): $6.3 million – 2,340 theaters
3. Pearl (A24): $3.124 million – 2,935 theaters
4. See How They Run (Disney Studios): $3.1 million – 2,404 theaters
5. Bullet Train (Sony): $2.5 million – 2,602 theaters
6. Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount): $2.18 million – 2,604 theaters
7. DC League of Super-Pets (Warner Bros.): $2.17 million – 2,756 theaters
8. The Invitation (Sony): $1.7 million – 2,425 theaters
9. Minions: The Rise of Gru (Universal): $1.32 million – 1,970 theaters
10. Moonage Daydream (Neon): $1.22 million – 170 theaters
Source: Box Office Mojo

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Going in to see The Woman King, I was thinking to myself “I dunno about this one… I have a feeling it’s going to be really bad.”
Then, when I walked out of the theater, I thought to myself “Oh wow, that was actually really good! Too bad this is a post-pandemic hellscape where an old-fashioned sword-and-sandal epic like this will likely bomb.”
I’m so relieved to have been wrong twice over!
It’s definitely poised to do well!