Controversies, Harry Styles give Dont Worry Darling solid box-office start

Don’t Worry Darling, Olivia Wilde’s directorial venture has done well at the domestic box office in its opening weekend, bringing $19.2 million. Internationally, the movie collected another $10.8 million, resulting in a total tally of $30 million. Considering the $35 million budget, this is an impressive start for the project whose off-screen antics became much discussed prior to the movie’s theatrical release. 

The many controversies shadowing the movie, including reports of co-star Florence Pugh’s anger at the director’s absence on some occasions, Wilde’s affair with lead Harry Styles, and the spit gate rumours involving Styles and castmember Chris Pine, did not dampen enthusiasm. Instead, the news surrounding the movie created much more awareness about it and the pull of seeing the English singer in his acting debut was enough to make people show up in numbers on the opening weekend of Don’t Worry Darling, Variety reported. 

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The film did not do too well as per initial reviews, landing a B- on CinemaScore. On Rotten Tomatoes, Don’t Worry Darling has managed a mere 38%, suggesting that the Warner Bros-backed movie might not do too well beyond the opening weekend, due to negative word-of-mouth feedback. However, Styles fans have given the film a solid start, as 66% of ticket buyers were female, with 70% between the ages 18 and 34. Audience members under the age of 18, accounting for 16% of the total turnout, were appreciative and gave Don’t Worry Darling an A- on CinemaScore. 

The studio, in a statement to the press, said on Sunday “We’re enormously proud of this film and are pleased with these results given our modest production budget”. 

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Initially, Don’t Worry Darling had been projected to earn between $21 million or $22 million, based on Friday’s collections, but a drop on Saturday and Sunday forced a revision in projections, bringing it down to $19 million.