The new romantic comedy The Lost City is making a strong start at the box office, as initial reports indicate it has already hauled $2.5 million from previews.
Considering this is still the opening weekend for the film, which stars Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, we’d say that score is a treasure indeed.
That Thursday preview figure of $2.5 million does not include last weekend’s Fandago previews, or the AMC screenings that happened earlier this week, Deadline reports.
Unlike most big studio films these days, The Lost City isn’t based on some other intellectual property, such as a comic book. The plot does somewhat resemble the 1984 film Romancing the Stone, however.
The story centers around Bullock’s Loretta, a romance novelist whose book covers often feature the face of Tatum’s Alan, as he is a model who portrays Dash, the fictional protagonist in the books.
But when Loretta is kidnapped for real by an eccentric billionaire, Daniel Radcliffe’s Abigail Fairfax, Alan must embark on a real swashbuckling adventure to rescue Loretta and prove his salt as real-life hero.
Adding to the draw for audiences are the additional star power of Brad Pitt in a supporting role, and positive reviews from critics. The film currently boasts a 76% critical score on the review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, as of press time.
Box office observers are already comparing The Lost City to Free Guy, another original comedy from last year that hauled in $2.2 million at its Thursday preview showing. The Ryan Reynolds comedy would go on to rake in $10.4 million at the first Friday showing, totaling $28.3 million for the opening weekend overall.