Elvis puts the King back in the spotlight in US theatres
Baz Luhrmann’s rock’n’roll biopic
Elvis hip-swivelled to the top of the box office on its opening weekend in North America, taking in an estimated US$30.5 million (1 billion baht) in a rare tie with Top Gun: Maverick, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported on Sunday.
The nearly three-hour-long extravaganza by director Luhrmann, known for glitzy films like Moulin Rouge! and The Great Gatsby, brought in nearly double the average for the musical biography genre, said analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.
Despite being a “risky proposition”, in part for casting relative newcomer Austin Butler as Elvis Presley alongside Tom Hanks as his exploitative manager, Colonel Tom Parker, the film has impressed audiences and critics, Gross said.
“This is the Baz Luhrmann show, a music, dance and sex appeal spectacular — it’s a hit,” he said.
Elvis was locked in a dead heat with
Top Gun: Maverick — the crowd-pleasing sequel to the original 1986 film that once again features Tom Cruise as cocky US Navy test pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.
It also earned an estimated $30.5 million in its fifth weekend of release.
It is now the highest grossing film of the year worldwide, breaking the $1 billion mark with nearly $522 million in ticket sales in North America and $484 million overseas.
In third place was Jurassic World Dominion, Universal’s sixth instalment in the Jurassic Park franchise, at $26.4 million.
The latest dinosaur fright-fest stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard alongside franchise originals Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum.
The fourth spot went to the horror film The Black Phone starring Ethan Hawke as a serial killer, which earned $23.4 million on its opening weekend.
Lightyear, Pixar and Disney’s latest computer-animated offering from the Toy Story empire, took the fifth position with $17.7 million in its second week.
The spinoff from the wildly successful animation series stars Chris Evans and has taken $88.8 million domestically and $63 million overseas, after a lackluster opening. AFP