The Bride! Projected to Break Historic Warner Bros. Box Office Streak

Last year, Warner Bros. rebounded nicely from a string of recent commercial disappointments by putting together one of the most impressive box office runs in Hollywood history. Beginning with the hit video game adaptation A Minecraft Movie, seven consecutive WB-distributed releases opened with at least $40 million domestically, which was a new record. Best Picture frontrunner One Battle After Another couldn’t reach that figure, but it still won its opening weekend, and when you factor in February’s Wuthering Heights, the last nine WB films earned the No. 1 spot at the box office in their debuts. Sadly, that streak is set to come to an end this weekend.

According to Deadline, The Bride! is projected to earn between $16-18 million domestically in its first three days. Estimates indicate it will add another $22 million internationally to raise the worldwide debut to somewhere between $38-40 million. That will not be enough to win the weekend; tracking for Pixar’s Hoppers is quite strong ($88 million worldwide), and The Bride! also needs to contend with holdover Scream 7.

Can The Bride! Exceed Box Office Projections?

It’s important to keep in mind that these are just projections, meaning there’s always a chance The Bride! performs better than expected. We just saw this happen with Scream 7, which was estimated to make $45-50 million in its debut and ended up shattering franchise records with $63.6 million. A couple of films from last year’s aforementioned Warner Bros. streak, including Sinners and Weapons, also notably exceeded expectations. In these cases, however, the movie in question was either part of an established popular franchise or was the beneficiary of strong word of mouth.

The Bride! takes inspiration from Bride of Frankenstein and features Christian Bale as Frankenstein’s monster, so in that sense some of the iconography is recognizable. At the same time, this isn’t a franchise film, so it’ll probably be more dependent on word of mouth to perform well at the box office. On that front, The Bride! is a bit of a mixed bag. Reviews certainly aren’t negative (60% Rotten Tomatoes score as of this writing), but it lacks the enthusiastic praise the fueled strong runs for the likes of Sinners and Weapons. Many critics appreciate that director Maggie Gyllenhaal was willing to take bold swings with a stylish approach, but the consensus is that some of those risks didn’t pay off. Words like “messy” have been used to describe The Bride!.

Read Next

The Bride! Director Maggie Gyllenhaal Reveals Why the Iconic Character Has THAT Look Now (And What the Title Really Means)

That word of mouth could have some impact on the movie’s box office prospects, especially since there are other high-profile options for viewers to choose from. Hoppers has been generating excitement, and Scream 7 is still doing well, so there’s a chance The Bride! gets a bit lost in the crowd. At the same time, there’s plenty of talent on both sides of the camera to draw viewers in. Joining Bale in the ensemble is Best Actress frontrunner Jessie Buckley, Jake Gyllenhaal, Annette Bening, and Penélope Cruz. With those recognizable names attached, The Bride! could be a go-to counterprogramming option for cinephiles looking for something a little different while they wait for Project Hail Mary.

Even if The Bride! doesn’t go down as a box office hit, it’s nice that a wild, inventive film such as this still exists and was made by a major studio. The project stemmed from WB’s director-driven initiative that led to the likes of One Battle After Another, Sinners, and more getting the green light. It’s important for studio executives to keep taking chances on these types of projects even when they don’t fully work out. Sometimes those rolls of the dice pay off in spades, so as WB prepares to be merged with Paramount, hopefully the people in charge keep this in mind.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!