Box Office: Bong Joon Ho and Robert Pattinson’s ‘Mickey 17’ Targets $20 Million Debut – Variety
By
Rebecca Rubin
Senior Film and Media Reporter
Will “Parasite” director Bong Joon Ho and not one, not two, but a dozen Robert Pattinsons be able to inject a little life into the desolate box office?
Movie theater owners certainly hope that’s the case as “Mickey 17,” a dystopian sci-fi comedy, lands in theaters after too many release date delays to count. The film is expected to earn $18 million to $20 million from 3,770 North American theaters in its first weekend of release. Internationally, “Mickey 17” is targeting $20 million to $25 million from 66 territories for a global start of $40 to $45 million.
Those projections aren’t too shabby for the offbeat, R-rated arthouse fever dream — except that Warner Bros. shelled out $118 million to make the post-apocalyptic story. So it’ll require roughly $275 million to $300 million in global ticket sales to get into the black during its theatrical run. In other words, “Mickey 17” will need at least 17 lives on the big screen to justify its hefty price tag.
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In “Mickey 17,” Pattinson plays multiple versions of the same character, an expendable worker who is able to be reprinted. He’s sent on a human expedition to colonize the inhospitable ice world known as Niflheim, where he perishes over and over and over again. Things go awry when one of the Mickeys is presumed dead and a replacement duplicate tries to take his place. Steven Yeun, Naomi Ackie, Toni Collette and Mark Ruffalo round out the cast. Reviews have been positive, with “Mickey 17” boasting an 87% average on Rotten Tomatoes. Empire Magazine’s film critic described the movie as such: “Like Mickey himself, it’s goofy and a little inconsistent, but it’s also funny, thoughtful and more plausible than we might like. A charming space oddity for these unusual times.”
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Bong is known for acclaimed films like “Snowpiercer,” “The Host,” “Okja” and “Barking Dogs Never Bite.” “Mickey 17” marks the director’s first film since 2019’s “Parasite,” which became the first non-English language movie to win best picture at the Oscars as well as the highest-grossing South Korean film in history.
South Korea is already embracing “Mickey 17,” which earned $6.6 million over the weekend and captured 69% of the country’s marketshare. Those ticket sales ranked as the biggest debut of the year in South Korea, outpacing Marvel’s “Captain America: Brave New World” ($4.1 million).
At the domestic box office, “Mickey 17” is the weekend’s only newcomer and shouldn’t face any competition considering the reigning champ, “Captain America: Brave New World,” has been playing for nearly a month. Meanwhile, Oscar winners like “Anora” and “The Brutalist” will aim to parlay their little gold men into ticket sales.
Overall receipts in North America are 11% above the same point in 2024 but nearly 30% behind 2019, according to Comscore. Analysts are encouraged, however, about the next 10 months, which will feature the release of blockbuster hopefuls like “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” “Jurassic World Rebirth,” “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” “Wicked: For Good” and “Superman.”
“With some huge movies on the horizon, the year will get jumpstarted soon enough with ‘Mickey 17,’ Disney’s ‘Snow White’ on March 21 and a solid summer and holiday season in the cards,” says senior Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
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