Focus Features’ “Atomic Blonde” earned $1.52 million at the Thursday previews, while Sony’s “The Emoji Movie” grossed $900,000.
“Atomic Blonde” director David Leitch helmed 2014’s “John Wick,” although he was uncredited, which grossed $875,000 at the Thursday box office and went on to earn $14 million its opening weekend against a $20 million budget. “Atomic Blonde” was produced for $30 million and was estimated by independent trackers to earn $20 million this weekend.
Based on the novel “The Coldest City” by Antony Johnston and Sam Hart, “Atomic Blonde” stars Charlize Theron as Lorraine Broughton, a MI6 secret intelligence service agent sent to Berlin on the eve of German unification in 1989 to eliminate an agent-hunting espionage ring. Joining her is David Percival (James McAvoy), an MI6 station chief who forms a tenuous alliance with Broughton as bullets quickly start flying.
Leitch directed this film from a screenplay by Kurt Johnstad. It also stars John Goodman, Til Schweiger, Bill Skarsgard and Sofia Boutella. Sierra/Affinity produced and financed the film, with Theron, Beth Kong, A.J. Dix, Kelly McCormick, Eric Gitter, and Peter Schwerin serving as producers. “Atomic Blonde” currently has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 76 percent.
“The Emoji Movie” is looking at a debut of $20 million to $30 million against a $50 million budget.
In comparison, Sony’s “Smurfs: The Lost Village” grossed $375,000 in previews and earned $13 million its opening weekend, while the studio’s “Angry Birds” flew to $800,000 and went on to gross $38 million in its debut.
“The Emoji Movie” stars T.J. Miller as Gene, an emoji who lives inside a teenager’s cellphone where emojis have jobs expressing a single emotion for their users. But when Gene realizes that he can’t do his job because he can express multiple emotions, he leaves his phone to try to become like everyone else. Anthony Leondis directed the film and co-wrote the script with Eric Siegel and Mike White, with Michelle Raimo Kouyate producing. The cast also includes James Corden, Ilana Glazer, Jennifer Coolidge, Patrick Stewart, and Maya Rudolph.
Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk” is still going strong at the box office since debuting last weekend. On Thursday, the film starring Tom Hardy, Fionn Whitehead and Harry Styles earned another $5.2 million, bringing its domestic total up to $74.7 million.