Warner Bros.’ highly-anticipated One Battle After Another earned stellar reviews from the nation’s critics, but it still couldn’t parlay that into a huge box office debut. The Paul Thomas Anderson film took in an estimated $22.4 million in its opening weekend (via ᴅᴇᴀᴅline), which ended WB’s streak of seven straight films debuting north of $40 million.
While the opening weekend figure was in line with its projections, and marked a career-high box office debut for writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson, it’s still quite low when considering the budget. It was estimated to cost between $130 million and $140 million to produce the film, with the ᴅᴇᴀᴅline report adding the “break even mark” is at $200 million for the film.
For most films, with those opening weekend numbers against that kind of budget range, it would already be branded a flop, but that may not be the case with One Battle After Another. ᴅᴇᴀᴅline cited the “exuberant positivity” swirling around the film that ultimately resulted in them holding off on calling it a flop, and there are a few ways it could endure and perhaps break even.
Repeat Viewings In Multiple Formats
One Battle After Another made history on its first day, becoming the first film since 1961’s One Eyed Jacks to be projected in the VistaVision format. While this is considered the preferred method to view the film — considering Anderson directed it using VistaVision cameras — there are only four theaters in the world showing it in VistaVision.
Fans in Los Angeles were handed cards upon entry to theaters, which features all six formats the film is being screened in — VistaVision, IMAX 70MM, IMAX, Dolby, 70MM and 4DX. The studio even encouraged fans to share their stamped cards on social media.
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Given the critical response and the fan fervor for the movie, this card promoting multiple viewings in different formats could very well drive the box office for the days and weeks to come. There was even talk from theater employees about a “prize” that fans could win for getting all six stamps and posting on social media.
An Extended Theatrical Run Well Into Awards Season
It wasn’t that long ago that theatrical windows for films was 120 days, before it was cut in half to 60 days and then shrunk once again to the current window of 45 days. Under that format, One Battle After Another would likely arrive on digital formats on or around November 10. That doesn’t seem to be the case now.
The ᴅᴇᴀᴅline report said that Warner Bros.’ plan is to keep One Battle After Another, “for as long as possible, heading into awards season,” which could mean the studio could keep this in theaters through the end of the year, and perhaps even into 2026. Of course, the studio has yet to confirm this plan, but it could happen.
Even if it does get pulled from theaters in November, there’s no reason the studio could run it back for an awards-season theatrical run to build buzz leading up to the Oscars. It could also use some help in foreign markets as well, particularly its pivotal release in China starting on October 16.
One Battle After Another will most likely be a strong contender during awards season, but if it gets a strong theatrical run and some help overseas, it could perform well at the box office as well.
