“Inside Out 2,” starring Anxiety personified, continued to resonate with viewers as the number one movie in North America for the third weekend. The horror-filled prequel “A Quiet Place: Day One” also struck a cultural chord, posting stronger-than-expected ticket sales.
But ticket buyers largely shunned Kevin Costner’s three-hour vanity project, “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1,” the supposed start of a series of Old West films that once headed straight to a streaming service before making it to the big screen.
Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” was on track to gross $55 million for a three-week total of about $470 million in the U.S. and Canada, according to box office analyst estimates Saturday. The sequel, which has received strong reviews, is closing in on $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales. No film has reached that sales threshold since “Barbie,” which opened in July 2023.
By the weekend, “A Quiet Place: Day One” was expected to generate about $53 million in ticket sales domestically, more than 30 percent above analysts’ pre-release expectations. , which are based on surveys that track the interest of moviegoers. “A Quiet Place: Day One,” which cost Paramount approximately $67 million to make, stars Lupita Nyong’o as a cancer patient who, with her cat, Frodo, must navigate a horrific invasion of creatures. aliens with extra sensitive ears.
Prequels are risky. Notable flops include “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” “The First Omen” and “Lightyear.” Fans already know what ultimately happens later in the story, making it difficult for studio marketers to generate hype, and prequels often lack the stars who helped make the franchises popular in the first place. Emily Blunt, for example, headlined the first two “Quiet Place” films.
The strong performance of “Day One” is even more impressive considering that its studio, Paramount, was recently embroiled in a distracting sales drama. The company’s majority shareholder, Shari Redstone, fired a top executive, negotiated a takeover offer, and eventually called off the entire process, causing the stock price to plummet. Despite that shock, the Paramount film team managed to introduce “Day One” to the market with great skill.
Costner’s much-hyped “Horizon,” which cost an estimated $100 million to produce and another $30 million to market, came in a distant third. It was on track to earn $12 million, analysts said. (Theaters and studios split ticket sales roughly 50-50.) Costner had held out hope that fans of the hit contemporary Western series “Yellowstone,” particularly those in the Midwest, would flock to theaters. It turned out to be a pipe dream.
Could “Horizon” gain traction in the coming weeks? Box office experts were not optimistic, citing weak reviews. Additionally, ticket buyers gave “Horizon” a B-minus grade in CinemaScore exit polls, meaning word of mouth will be soft.
Warner Bros. will release the second chapter on August 16. Costner has already started making Part 3 and also announced a fourth installment.
Warner Bros. is acting only as a contracted distributor, meaning the studio has no investment in the films and therefore has no financial exposure. (The company will receive a cut of ticket sales, about 8 percent, as a fee for its services.) To finance the project, Costner mortgaged real estate in Santa Barbara, California, and enlisted the support of private investors. He left “Yellowstone” to focus on “Horizon.”
“There are movies that beat the odds, break the mold and prove the skeptics wrong,” said David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter on box office numbers. “In this case, the mold is still intact: Westerns are not in fashion and there has not been a successful Western theatrical series in the last 50 years.”
