‘Elvis’ Crosses Major Box Office Milestone

Warner Bros.’s Elvis has crossed the $100M mark at the domestic box office in a remarkable achievement for an adult movie with a female skew, Deadline reported.This achievement is a win for traditional cinema at a U.S./Canada box office where only comic book films and heavy franchise films can win. 

Despite initial concerns, Elvis is demonstrating that older women and adults will return to the movie theater. The musical film dominated the over 55 demos at 31% in the first two weeks of the ComScore/Screen Engine PostTrak audience survey. Its best grade at 92% came from women over 25, who made up 45%of the audience.

The movie is Warner Bros.’s second $100 million calendar YTD hit after The Batman earned $369.3M. To date, the film has earned $170 million worldwide. The pic is currently director Baz Luhrmann’s fourth highest grossing movie worldwide after The Great Gatsby ($354M), Australia ($212M), and Moulin Rouge ($185M). After The Great Gatsby ($145M), it has been Luhrmann’s second highest-grossing movie at the domestic box office.

The movie marks Tom Hanks’ 24th movie as an actor to achieve the 100 million-dollar mark at the U.S./Canada box office. Additionally, Warner is pleased with the young kids seeing Elvis, and watching the former Nickelodeon, and Zoey 101 actor Austin Butler portraying the music legend.

“Elvis continues to drive box office in part because younger audiences—none of whom were born during Elvis’s lifetime—are embracing the film and leading the enthusiastic social media conversation,” said Jeff Goldstein, President of Domestic Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.

“Along with the film’s success, the music from the movie is climbing on diverse charts, resulting in a cross-genre reverberation from dance to hip-hop and more, and sales of the Elvis Presley catalog rising, with streaming of his music up 90%.”

“We are not only pleased to cross this milestone, but truly thrilled to see it happen with a film like Elvis. In today’s market and especially in the summer corridor, to see a non-branded IP with an up-and-coming lead create not just box office noise but also result in a significant spike in other areas is so gratifying and speaks to the quality of the film on every level,” Goldstein said via Deadline. 

“With strong playability, positive word of mouth and cross-generational multiple viewings, we expect Elvis to continue to deliver and we congratulate Baz, Austin and everyone involved in the film and the soundtrack on its ongoing success,” he added.

Doja Cat’s “Vegas,” currently No. 7 on the U.S. Spotify chart and No. 14 on the Billboard streaming chart, led the Elvis soundtrack to the top of the Billboard soundtrack chart. Elvis Presley’s first appearance on a dance music chart was provided by PNAU, who performed with Elvis and produced and arranged “Don’t Fly Away.”