'Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile' Tries to Lure Families to Theaters
by EG
A kid-focused musical based on a children's book, Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, hits theaters this weekend and could be the week's top movie. Last week's top movie, the horror flick Smile, could be a contender, too, but neither movie is expected to be a giant hit. That means it will be another quiet weekend in theaters as the slow fall movie season grinds on. Read on for details.
Via Box Office Mojo.
September turned out to be the lowest grossing month since May 2021, and by pre-pandemic standards it was the lowest grossing since 1996. Though a few inpidual films did okay, there’s no denying that the $319 million cume for the entire month was a horrendous return. Hopefully it will never be repeated, and thankfully the changing of the box office seasons is upon us. This weekend is the last of the doldrums, and the one-two punch of Halloween Ends next weekend and Black Adam the following weekend will bring the numbers back up to levels we haven’t seen since July, with the bigger fireworks show coming November 11 when Black Panther: Wakanda Forever opens. The year’s final quarter may not live up to pre-pandemic years, but it is still a huge relief after the two month dry spell. We just had 10 weekends in a row (11 after this weekend) below $100 million, with the past six weekends coming in under $65 million and this weekend likely continuing that trend.
Though there are two newcomers this weekend which both have a lot going for them, neither is primed to break out, and there is even the chance that they get upset by the hot horror film Smile as it follows up its $22.6 million opening. With that said, Sony’s family musical Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile is a good candidate to win the weekend. Based on the classic kid’s book of the same name, the mostly live action film tells the story of a family who moves to New York City only to discover a crocodile in the attic that can sing but otherwise cannot speak. The cast is headlined by Constance Wu and Javier Bardem as humans while the CG crocodile has a vocal performance by music star Shawn Mendes. Songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (of The Greatest Showman fame) did the soundtrack and are executive producing.
The Will Speck and Josh Gordon directorial opens in 4,300 theaters, and though only 11 reviews are in so far, it’s leaning positive at 73% on Rotten Tomatoes. A mid teens opening is expected, but that’s not an ideal start for the $50 million budgeted film. Working in the film’s favor, though, is that it has the family market to itself until Disney’s Strange World opens before Thanksgiving. That under-served audience led both The Bad Guys and DC League of Super-Pets to $90+ million grosses after $23-24 million openings. Those numbers are a long shot for Lyle, but a similarly long legged trajectory wouldn’t be surprising.
Also opening wide is Amsterdam, the first film from writer/director David O. Russell since 2015. 20th Century’s $80 million budgeted, 1930s set comic murder mystery stars Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington, and the supporting cast is just as star studded with Chris Rock, Anya Taylor-Joy, Zoe Saldaña, Mike Myers, Michael Shannon, Timothy Olyphant, Andrea Riseborough, Taylor Swift, Matthias Schoenaerts, Alessandro Nivola, Rami Malek, and Robert De Niro. The 3,000 theater launch includes 390 IMAX screens and hundreds of other premium large format screens. Unfortunately, this one isn’t critic proof, and the 30% on Rotten Tomatoes is quite a buzzkill coming from a filmmaker whose name typically signals quality.
Get the rest of the story at Box Office Mojo.