Box Office: ‘The Wild Robot’ Has $2 Million in Previews, ‘Megalopolis’ Makes $770,000

“The Wild Robot,” Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s latest family-friendly, animated adventure, has made $1.95 million in Thursday previews at the box office so far.

Director Chris Sanders’ movie, about a lost robot on a planet overrun by wildlife, is on track to make between $24 million to $30 million in its opening weekend. That should be enough to claim the top slot from Warner Bros.’ spooky sequel, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” which has been the No. 1 movie for the past three weeks. Tim Burton’s film should take second place in its frame week of release, with an estimated $13 million to $15 million this weekend. Last week’s newcomer, Paramount’s animated origin story “Transformers One,” will have to settle for third place, with a projected $12 million to $14 million after opening in second place last weekend.

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“The Wild Robot” stars Lupita Nyong’o as the titular automaton, who is named ROZZUM unit 7134 but better known as Roz. After being abandoned on an unknown planet, Roz meets several critters, who are voiced by Hollywood A-listers. They include a red fox named Fink (Pedro Pascal); a Canada goose named Brightbill (Kit Conner); a mother opossum named Pinktail (Catherine O’Hara); a wise goose called Longneck (Bill Nighy); a grizzly bear named Thorn (Mark Hamill); a falcon called Thunderbolt (Ving Rhames); and a fellow robot named Vontra (Stephanie Hsu). With a $78 million budget, “The Wild Robot” is hoping to attract families to theaters for weeks to come, much like family-friendly films like “Elemental” and “Migration” did.

Also opening this weekend is legendary director Francis Ford Coppola’s self-financed, sci-fi epic “Megalopolis.” It made $770,000 in previews and carries a large $120 million budget, which was mostly independently financed by Coppola himself. Lionsgate picked up the film after its Cannes Film Festival premiere and agreed to release and market it in exchange for a distribution fee. However, it’s on track to earn a disappointing $5 million to $7 million in its opening weekend.

Adam Driver stars as Cesar Catilina, the leader of a futuristic city called New Rome. He goes up against the corrupt Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito) to rebuild the metropolis after a natural disaster. The cast also includes Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Kathryn Hunter, Grace VanderWaal, Chloe Fineman, James Remar, D. B. Sweeney and Dustin Hoffman.

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