‘Demon Slayer’ Reaps $1.8M In Thursday Night Previews – Box Office

Sony/Crunchyroll’s Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba -To the Hashira Training had the most action among three wide entries last night in previews with $1.8M from 1,870 locations that started showtimes at 4PM. That was boosted, in standard Crunchyroll fashion, by PLFs and Imax. The movie is only suppose to do in the high single digits this weekend, much lower than other Demon Slayer movies as it’s a TV episode that’s been streamed on Crunchyroll, just shown on the big screen for the first time. In sum, it’s not a movie. 2021’s Demon Slayer movie posted $3.8M in previews.

Lionsgate/Kingdom Story’s faith-based Hilary Swank drama Ordinary Angels saw $285K off previews that began at 6PM. While that’s low, there’s hope that this movie could over exceed its $5M-$7M projection given its pretty good reviews of 78% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. We’ll see.

Focus Features has the Ethan Coen directed comedy caper Drive-Away Dolls. They moved the movie out of the fall due to the actors strike so that it has a shot at some livelihood. Despite a NYC premiere and reviews at 68% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes — it has none. So much, that the distributor isn’t reporting preview grosses today. That means the movie made less than the $700K they did report for Lisa Frankenstein on its previews, however that included previews outside Thursday. Oy. Industry estimates are figuring around $450K. Lisa Frankenstein with its fresh face cast opened to $3.6M; and Drive-Away Dolls could be lower or about the same. How is that possible? Coen Brother=hip. Margaret Qualley, Beanie Feldstein, Geraldine Viswanathan and Matt Damon=hip. Tracker Quorum reports, “Sadly, Focus struggled to build awareness for the film. Dolls arrives in theaters with only 20% awareness. Of the 17 films over the past two years with awareness of 20% or lower, none opened above $4M. That’s a challenging trend to buck.” 

As we told you, it’s Paramount’s Bob Marley: One Love which will keep everyone together at cinemas this weekend with around $15M, -45%. The pic had a great Thursday hold, -4% from Wednesday with $1.6M ending its running total through nine days at $57.6M at 3,539 theaters. That’s 25% ahead of Rocketman through nine days, and that movie ended its domestic run at $96.3M.

Sony/Marvel’s Madame Web eased 9% on Thursday with $786K at 4,013 ending its nine-day run with $29.4M. If the panned femme superhero movie is lucky, it will only ease -55% this weekend for a $6.8M. That would be mindboggling.