‘The Lost City’ Looks to Seize Box Office Crown From ‘The Batman’ With $30 Million Opening Weekend

variety.com:

J. Kim Murphy After three weeks of “The Batman,” the domestic box office has a new leader. “The Lost City,” starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, looks to claim the weekend’s top spot with a projected $30 million opening weekend.Paramount’s adventure rom-com blasted off to $11.5 million from 4,253 locations on its opening day, after grossing $2.5 million in Thursday previews.

It’s an impressive start for a release hailing from a genre that hasn’t had the best track record of getting audiences into theaters over the past few years. “Lost City” isn’t your typical rom-com though, boasting a grand jungle setting, a penchant for violence and a sense of scale that could’ve helped convince ticket buyers to perceive the release as an event worth attending.

In “The Lost City,” Bullock plays a romance novelist who is kidnapped by a billionaire (Daniel Radcliffe), who seeks to use her knowledge of an ancient language to find a treasure.

Tatum plays the novelist’s hunky cover model who decides to rescue her.Variety‘s Peter Debruge enjoyed the film, calling it “the kind of breezy two-hour getaway that doesn’t take itself too seriously, delivering screwball banter between Bullock and Tatum — a guilty-pleasure treasure hunt that pretends to be more progressive than it really is by alternating between who’s saving whom.” The film has been amicably received, earning a 76% approval aggregate from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a “B+” rating on CinemaScore, indicating general approval from audiences.