Apple TV Plus extravaganza Killers of the Flower Moon, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro and directed by Martin Scorsese, has beaten Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour at the international box office on opening weekend, and it sounds like the film is a doozy.
Figures reported by Deadline Monday indicate the movie, a crime drama about the FBI investigation into the murder of Osage Native American tribe members in 1920s Oklahoma, has smashed $44 million worldwide at the box office including $23 million in the States. The international launch garnered some $21 million in 63 offshore markets, a performance Deadline notes is “great for a period movie with a long running time and at a moment when talent could not promote it due to the actors strike.”
Those figures weren’t enough to beat Leo: Bloody Sweet but were enough to beat the second weekend of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour at the international box office. However, Swift’s concert movie has earned $165 million to date so she probably won’t mind. It’s also still number one in the U.S., pulling in $31 million.
As Variety notes this is “easily” the best start for a Scorsese movie since Shutter Island (2010), and a myriad of rave reviews are part of the reason why.
The reviews are in
“Enormous in runtime, theme, and achievement, Killers of the Flower Moon is a sobering appraisal of America's relationship with Indigenous peoples and yet another artistic zenith for Martin Scorsese and his collaborators,” reads Rotten Tomatoes' critics consensus, where the film has a “Certified Fresh” 92% score, along with a strong 85% from the audience.
One more generous review said the film “is deeply moving, at once sobering and enraging. It is simply an astonishing work, a true masterpiece,” while another said it was “magnificent, a work of beauty, even though the world it portrays is squalid. I admire and respect it, but I would like it better if it weren’t so difficult to sit through.”
That run time (3 hours and 26 minutes if you were wondering) might be offputting to some, in which case you’ll want to wait for the film’s exclusive streaming release on Apple TV Plus. Rumblings suggest it could arrive on the service before Christmas, and will likely be fighting Ridley Scott’s Napoleon for the title of best movie on Apple TV Plus.
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