Box Office: ‘Death on the Nile’ Sails to No. 1 as Jennifer Lopez’s ‘Marry Me’ Hits Wrong Note
variety.comRebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“Death on the Nile” collected $12.8 million in its opening weekend. Those ticket sales wouldn’t buy enough Champagne to fill the Nile, but they are sufficient to lead domestic box office charts.The star-studded murder mystery, from Disney and 20th Century Studios, arrived on par with expectations, which had projected a debut in between $11 million to $14 million.
But “Death on the Nile” cost $90 million to produce — not to mention the additional costs the film racked up across several pandemic-related delays — meaning it will not be smooth sailing to get out of the red.Jennifer Lopez’s romantic comedy “Marry Me,” also new to theaters this weekend, didn’t exactly find its happily ever after.
The movie brought in $8 million from 3,462 venues, enough for third place. That start isn’t catastrophic considering “Marry Me” cost only $23 million to make and landed on NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock on the same day as its theatrical release.
However, it’s less than box office experts had predicted heading into the weekend and it likely won’t inspire Universal Pictures executives to greenlight “Marry Me 2.” Universal Pictures did not report viewership on Peacock, where “Marry Me” was available on the premium tier, so it’s impossible to know whether the studio mitigated losses by premiering the movie day-and-date online or if the hybrid release cut into box office ticket sales.
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