Apple Has Its First Flop

For the first time, Apple has experienced a box office flop with a big-budget production. Argylle, the $200 million, star-studded spy thriller from Apple Studios, debuted with $18 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. The film, directed by Matthew Vaughn, managed to lead the weekend box office but still found little interest from moviegoers, the AP reports. Although Apple has been in the original film business since 2019 and won the Oscar for best picture with 2021's CODA, the company has only recently produced its own lineup of big-budget releases. The first two, Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon and Ridley Scott's Napoleon, could be called financially successful.

Both of those films raised Apple's reputation as a home to top directors and prestige filmmaking. But Argylle—a twisty thriller starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, and Henry Cavill—was badly dinged by critics, who gave it a Rotten Tomatoes score of 35% "fresh." Ticket buyers also gave it a thumbs down, with a C+ CinemaScore. Second place on the weekend went to the Christian drama series The Chosen. The first three episodes of the fourth season of the series, which dramatizes the life of Jesus, played in 2,263 theaters. On another quiet weekend in cinemas, the rest of ticket sales went mainly to holdovers and awards contenders.

Below are estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. Argylle, $18 million.
2. The Chosen, $6 million.
3. The Beekeeper, $5.3 million.
4. Wonka, $4.8 million.
5. Migration, $4.1 million.
6. Mean Girls, $4 million.
7. Anyone But You, $3.5 million.
8. American Fiction, $2.3 million.
9. Poor Things, $2.1 million.
10. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, $2 million.

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