Josh Brolin is no stranger to box office giants, having played Thanos in the Avengers movies and Cable in Deadpool 2, but his latest film is off to a much quieter start. Whalefall, the survival thriller from 20th Century Studios, opened to roughly $17.5 million worldwide, against a reported production budget of $60 million.
The film earned $7.8 million from 3,065 theaters in North America over its opening weekend, finishing fourth on the chart, while international markets contributed about $9.5 million.
What Whalefall Is About
Brolin plays Mitt Gardiner, a tough dive-boat captain whose death leaves his son Jay, played by Austin Abrams, with a lot of unresolved feelings. Jay heads out on a dive off the central coast of California to find his father's remains, only to be swallowed by an enormous sperm whale. Trapped inside with an hour of oxygen left, he has to lean on the survival lessons his father drilled into him, and Brolin appears in flashbacks that explore the strained relationship between father and son.
Abrams has been on a strong run lately, following up a role in Zach Cregger's Weapons with the lead in Cregger's Resident Evil reboot, which hit theaters last month. Elisabeth Shue, John Ortiz, Jane Levy, and Emily Rudd also star. The PG-13 film runs 106 minutes.
The Numbers Behind The Weekend
Things started slowly with $900,000 from Thursday previews and about $3.1 million on Friday. The weekend then tapered off with $2.8 million on Saturday and $1.9 million on Sunday. It has been reported that the film was tracking for an opening between $10 million and $12 million, so it came in a few million short.
Monday added another $714,950, which lifted the domestic total past $8.5 million. With about $9.6 million from overseas, Whalefall now sits at around $18.2 million globally. Mexico has been its biggest international market so far, followed by the UK, China, France, and Germany.
Capcom's Street Fighter adaptation won the weekend, opening at number one with $31 million in North America, while A24's documentary You Can See Everything had a surprisingly big $15 million debut in second place, and Other Mommy took third with $8.3 million in its second weekend.
Solid Word Of Mouth Might Help
The reception has been far better than the opening suggests. Whalefall holds a 72% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing and an audience score of around 80%, and moviegoers gave it a B on CinemaScore. Metacritic has it at a more mixed 59. Positive word of mouth could help the film hold on in the weeks ahead, though closing the gap with its budget looks unlikely.
Disney will not be sweating this one too much. Parent company Disney has Avengers: Doomsday on the way this December (December 18th), which will reunite Marvel fans with the heroes Thanos once battled and is expected to be one of the biggest releases of the year.
The Team Behind The Film
Brian Duffield directed Whalefall from a screenplay he co-wrote with Daniel Kraus, based on Kraus's 2023 novel. Duffield is best known for writing and directing No One Will Save You and for writing Love and Monsters, while Kraus co-wrote the novel version of Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water. Brian Grazer produced the film alongside Duffield, Jeb Brody, and Allan Mandelbaum, with Imagine Entertainment also involved.
Whalefall is playing only in theaters right now, and Disney's own Disney+ page tells fans to check back for streaming updates once the theatrical run wraps, so there is no streaming date yet.
Does a survival thriller with Josh Brolin sound like a must-see on the big screen to you, or is Whalefall one you will wait to catch at home?
Sound off with your thoughts in the comments below.