A historical epic about female warriors in a West African kingdom fighting slave traders, The Woman King, dominated the U.S. box office over the weekend.
Preliminary data from Exhibitor Relations were released on Sunday, and they show that the Sony film about the real-life warriors of the 19th-century kingdom of Dahomey (located in present-day Benin) made $19 million.
Nanisca, played by Oscar winner Viola Davis, is a veteran warrior who prepares a new generation of warriors to fight off a greater African kingdom and European slave traffickers.
The actress spoke to AFP on Wednesday, explaining that it took six years to get studios and producers interested in the concept.
The movie made $6.3 million from Friday to Sunday, putting it in second place at the box office, ahead of the low-budget horror picture “Barbarian,” which had dominated the previous weekend.
The bizarre and gruesome “Pearl,” directed by Ti West and revolving on a farm vacation, filmmaking aspirations, axes, pitchforks, and alligators, took third place with a gross of almost $3.1 million.
After that came “Coup de théâtre,” a comedy from Searchlight’s 1950s London setting in which a production of an adapted play is disrupted by a string of murders that a slightly tipsy investigator and his too emotional sidekick try to investigate. The film also pulled in around $3.1 million in income.
In fifth place came “Bullet Train”, an action film starring Brad Pitt from Sony, with $2.5 million.
The remaining top 10 are listed below.
6 – “Top Gun: Maverick” ($2.2 million)
7 – “Krypto and the Super-Animals” ($2.2 million)
8 – “Ball of Hell” (1.7 million)
9 – “Minions 2: Once Upon a Time Gru” (1.3 million)
10 – “Moonage Daydream” (1.2 million)
Also Read: All films containing LGBTQ+ content are prohibited in Kenya.
