The period drama Knightabout a famous composer and violin virtuoso born to an African slave and owner of a French plantation, made its muted debut this weekend at the box office.
The biopic centered on Joseph Bologna, Knight of St. George in Marie Antoinette’s France, opened in a semi-wide release with $1.5 million between Friday and Sunday, according to Comscore.
The Searchlight Pictures release played in 1,275 locations across North America for a per-theatre average of $1,176 and failed to make the top 10 grossing films list.
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In comparison, the drama of royalty 2021 spencerstarring Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana, debuted domestically with $2.1 million from 996 locations. Mary Queen of Scots, starring Saoirse Ronan opened with $200,000 in 2018, from four locations averaging $50,000 per screen. It went on to gross $46 million worldwide.
New Orleans native Kelvin Harrison Jr. leads the cast of Knight in the titular role. British-American actress Lucy Boynton plays the role of Marie Antoinette. The cast also includes Samara Weaving, Marton Csokas and Minnie Driver.
In real life, Bologna was born in the French colony of Guadeloupe in 1745, to a wealthy French plantation owner and an enslaved black teenager.
The musician moved to Europe and became one of the first composers of African descent on the continent to be widely acclaimed. Despite his many accomplishments, he received little attention in the history books.
Knight had its world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival and opened the Pan African Film and Arts Festival in Los Angeles earlier this year.
The drama currently has an 81% positive score on rotten tomatoeswith reviews describing it as “fascinating”, “engaging” and “vigorously entertaining”.
Despite these rave reviews, the drama only managed an 11th place at the box office.
The movie Super Mario Bros. retained the top spot after taking in an additional $58.2 million in its third weekend. Universal Pictures’ release, based on Nintendo’s popular video game, grossed just over $434 million domestically and $871 million worldwide, according to Comscore.
Warner Bros horror movie. Evil Dead Rise opened with a solid $23.5 million to take second place.
Afghanistan war drama by Guy Ritchie The deal debuted at No. 3 with a measly $6.28 million between Friday and Sunday. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a former US Army sergeant who returns to Afghanistan to rescue the performer (played by Dar Salim), who saved his life from the Taliban.
John Wick: Chapter 4 was fourth with $5.7 million in its fifth week in theaters, bringing its domestic total to $168.8 million. Air rounded out the top five with $5.5 million in its third weekend in theaters.
Check out Comscore’s box office chart below.
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