Martin Scorsese's new film "Killers of the Flower Moon" officially hit theaters around the world last weekend, earning a first-weekend box office of US$23 million in 3,628 theaters in North America, and an opening box office of US$21 million in 68 overseas markets. The film failed to win the local box office weekly crown as predicted by some pre-screening analysts, but ticket-buying audiences also withstood the test of the 216-minute film. According to the North American CinemaScore survey, it received an A- rating.
For traditional Hollywood studios, it is obviously a disaster for a US$200 million movie to earn more than US$20 million in the first weekend. This was one of the reasons why Paramount refused to advance the film. However, Apple is currently eager to expand its influence in Hollywood and has invested a billion dollars in cost expenses to win over the support of artists in the industry, including Ridley Scott's new war biography "Napoleon" on November 22, Matthew Vaughn's new film "Argyle", and will also invest in new films by Brad Pitt and George Clooney.
For this technology company, whether "Killers of the Flower Moon" can make a difference during the awards season is currently the most important task. The movie "Hearing Girl" previously produced by AppleTV+ was the first streaming movie to win the Best Picture Award in Oscar history.