The Jack Quaid action comedy is getting good buzz and is estimated to take the top spot at the box office this weekend.
After a brief delay, acclaimed South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho returned to theaters last weekend with Mickey 17, a quirky sci-fi epic starring Robert Pattinson that, despite its stumble during its box office debut, dethroned Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World after three weeks at the top of the charts. The director is striking with this high-concept sci-fi after his big Academy Awards win with Parasite. However, this week will also see competition arise with an action comedy that boasts an interesting hook — a timid protagonist who cannot feel pain.
This film, Novocaine, which stars Jack Quaid as the reluctant hero, is being projected to take the top spot this week. According to Variety, projections on the film are estimated to bring in $10 million to $12 million from 3,300 North American theaters in its first weekend of release. It wouldn’t be a bad start, as the movie’s price tag at Paramount Pictures came in at $18 million. Meanwhile, the estimates for Mickey 17 are expected to drop by 55% to 60% after its $19 million debut from the past week. Projections are putting its second-weekend earnings at around $8 million to $9 million. The Robert Pattinson clone film has already grossed $20.5 million domestically and $54 million globally.
Novocaine is already getting good buzz for capitalizing on its brutal fun premise. Our Tyler Nichols had a blast, as he said in his review, “I feel like whenever some action movie comes along that impresses, it’s always “this reminds me of the kind of film from a different era” but that doesn’t apply here. Novocaine feels very modern, and builds off of all the similar movies that have come before it. There were some twists and turns that I never saw coming and it helped keep the film fresh. While it doesn’t break from the norm too often, when it does, it gives the film a lot more personality. Jack Quaid has added yet another character type that he can pull off effortlessly: action star.”
This week also sees the releases of Steven Soderbergh’s spy thriller Black Bag, which stars Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett, and Ayo Edebiri and John Malkovich’s surrealist satire Opus.
