The beginning of any new year is usually a slow time for the box office, and while there were no new arrivals during the first weekend of the year, the weekend of January 24 brought in several newcomers. One of the new arrivals isPresence, the psychological horror thriller starringLucy Liu(Red One) andJulia Fox(Uncut Gems). The film was the second-highest-grossing debut movie but still opened outside the top five in the #7 spot with $3.3 million as it was outpaced byMoana 2at #5 with $4.3 million andWolf Manat #6 with $3.4 million.Mark Wahlberg’sFlight Riskopened in the #1 spot with $12 million, withMufasa: The Lion Kingfollowing behind with another $8.7 million,One of Them Daysadding $8 million, andSonic the Hedgehog 3earning $5.5 million.
Presencedid manage to out-earnA Complete Unknown, the musical biopic starringTimothée ChalametandEdward Nortonthat earned only $3.1 million this weekend to keep its #8 spot. This $3.1 million is still only an impressive 17% drop from last weekend where the film scored $3.7 million. Filling out the final two spots in the top 10 areGerard Butler’s action thriller sequel,Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, and A24’s Oscar-hopeful starringAdrien BrodyandGuy Pearce,The Brutalist.Den of Thieves 2added another $3 million to its total this weekend to claim the #9 spot, falling down from #5 last weekend, whileThe Brutalistexpanded into more theatersthis weekend and scored $2.8 million to take the #10 spot, a 46% increase from the weekend before.
Who Wrote and Directed ‘Presence’?
David Koepppenned the screenplay forPresencewithSteven Soderberghdirecting the film. Koepp is best known for his work as a scribe on the originalJurassic Parkmovie directed bySteven Spielberg, and he is even returning to write the nextJurassicinstallment,Jurassic World: Rebirth, which is coming to theaters later this year. Soderbergh will always be known for earning two Oscar nominations in the same year in the same category for directingErin BrockovichandTraffic, and he even won the Award for helming the latter. Soderberg’s next film,Black Bag, is a spy thriller starringMichael FassbenderandCate Blanchettthat’s coming to theaters on March 14.
Presenceis now playing in most theaters everywhere. Stay tuned to Collider for more box office updates on the film and find tickets below for a showtime near you.
