MOVIE NEWS – The new film starring Daisy Ridley of Star Wars fame, grosses less than $1 million in its opening weekend. It didn’t even make the Top 10 list of recent premieres…

The Marsh King’s Daughter had a disappointing opening weekend at the US box office. The film, based on Karen Dionne’s 2017 book of the same name, is written by The Illusionist and Divergent director Neil Burger. Daisy Ridley stars as Helena Pelletier, a young woman who tries to protect her daughter when her cruel survivalist father escapes from prison.

According to Deadline, The Marsh King’s Daughter could barely show anything at the US box office despite this weekend being the fourth lowest-grossing weekend of the year so far.

The top three movies (Five Nights at Freddy’s, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, and Killers of the Flower Moon) were all retained, with the newly released Priscilla and What Happens Later coming in at No. 4 and No. 9, respectively. Daisy Ridley’s title didn’t even make the list. It grossed just $849,000 in 1,055 theaters.

Despite the excellent cast, will Daisy Ridley’s new film be a flop?!

One of the strange things about The Marsh King’s Daughter not doing well at the box office is the fact that the film has such a strong cast. Ridley, who starred in the new Star Wars trilogy, stars alongside another franchise veteran, Rogue One star Ben Mendelsohn. (He also appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the Skrull Talos.) The cast includes actors such as Garrett Hedlund (Friday Night Lights, Tron: Legacy), Brooklynn Prince (The Florida Project) and Gil Birmingham (Twilight, Yellowstone ).

Although the actors have appeared in prominent art films and principal franchise instalments, they have mostly thrived as part of the ensembles of IP-based projects.

Ridley is an established actor, but outside of franchises like Star Wars, Peter Rabbit and Kenneth Branagh’s Hercule Poirot movies, she hasn’t produced any blockbusters so far. In fact, her highest-grossing non-franchise title was the 2021 Tom Holland film Chaos Walking, which brought in just $27.1 million despite a roughly $100 million budget.

Indeed, The Marsh King’s Daughter was not as widely released in theatres as the other films on this list. (The Top 3 movies each played in more than 3,000 theatres in the US.) But the other new films that made the list played in a similar number of theatres. They all benefited from Dune: Part Two being postponed the same weekend due to the actors’ strike. We’ll see if Ridley will be able to lead a film that isn’t tied to a major franchise. So far, it looks like this title won’t break the mould.

Source: Deadline, Box Office Mojo