While Warner Bros. won the day, Universal Pictures snuck into the number two spot with “Ticket to Paradise,” which earned $16.3 million in its domestic debut. The appeal of Clooney and Roberts was more than enough to put meat in seats. It is especially encouraging because rom-coms have largely been relegated to Netflix in recent years, with movies like “Bros” bombing at the box office. But in the right situation, with A-list stars, audiences will absolutely turn up and spend hard-earned money to watch these movies.
Case in point: the film has been playing overseas for several weeks and has already earned $80.2 million, meaning it stands at $96.6 million. Assuming it will hold well in the coming weeks (and all signs point to that happening) it should easily justify its $60 million budget. So, along with “The Lost City of D,” there’s enough evidence from 2022 to prove that rom-coms can be viable beyond streaming.
That’s important looking at a weekend like this. We know superheroes work. They’ve been propping up the box office for years now. We know horror movies work. They’ve been Hollywood’s unrespected bread and butter for decades. But to keep theaters up and running, we need more than superheroes and scares. Rom-coms to the rescue.
You can check out the weekend’s full top 10 at the box office below.
Top 10 movies at the box office October 21 to 23
1. Black Adam – $67 million
2. Ticket to Paradise – $16.3 million
3. Smile – $8.3 million
4. Halloween Ends – $8 million
5. Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile – $4.2 million
6. The Woman King – $1.9 million
7. Terrifier 2 – $1.89 million
8. Don’t Worry Darling – $880,000
9. Amsterdam – $818,000
10. Triangle of Sadness – $600,000
