The live-action/animated musical comedy Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, from Sony, made $575,000 in Thursday night previews, putting its opening weekend take in the range of $11 million to $12 million. More optimistic estimates place the opening weekend gross between $15 and $18 million. But while this should put the family-friendly picture ahead of its fellow newcomer Amsterdam, it will likely still come in below last week’s number one feature, Smile. Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile is an adaptation of Bernard Wabar’s children’s book of the same name and was directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon.
The movie features Shawn Mendes as the crocodile’s voice, and Javier Bardem as his “charismatic owner,” Lyle. Constance Wu, Winslow Fegley, Scoot McNairy, and Brett Gelman round out the cast. Sony has a history of success with family-friendly animated features like this, having published both The Smurfs and The Smurfs 2, as well as Peter Rabbit and Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway. Costing an estimated $50 million, Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile is comparable to the two Peter Rabbit films, which grossed over $500 million worldwide.
The movie follows the Primm family as they relocate to New York and discover a singing crocodile in their attic (one “who likes baths, caviar, and fine music”).
When Lyle’s life is in danger from a villainous neighbour, “the Primm’s must band together with Lyle’s charismatic owner, Hector P. Valenti, to show the world that family can emerge from the most unexpected places,” as the synopsis puts it. The reviews for the film range from good to negative. It’s tough to picture Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile becoming a comedic classic that fans will want to return to any time soon, as Chase Hutchinson noted in his C+ review. Meanwhile, David O. Russell’s star-studded historical drama Amsterdam earned $550,000 on Thursday previews and is projected to make $10 million over the course of its opening weekend.
Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Chris Rock, Anya Taylor-Joy, Taylor Swift, Michael Shannon, Zoe Saldana, Mike Myers, Robert De Niro, Rami Malek, and more are just some of the A-list actors featured in Amsterdam. Costing an estimated $80 million to produce, the film Amsterdam, about three friends who become primary suspects in the murder of a U.S. senator, did not receive the type of platform distribution that would have been appropriate for a picture of this calibre. There are more than 3,000 cinemas showing it. That’s presumably because of all the negative buzz around the film. Hutchinson gave it a failing grade of F and dubbed it “a star-studded fiasco” and “a cinematic fraud” in his assessment.
A comparable historical caper, Searchlight’s See How They Run, which debuted last month to less than $20 million worldwide, may have foretold the film’s lacklustre forecasts. All four of Russell’s most recent features (The Fighter, Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, and Joy) are strong contenders for best picture at the Academy Awards. Even if the reviews for Amsterdam haven’t been stellar just yet, the film was promoted as an awards candidate. In other news, projections put Smile’s second-weekend earnings at approximately $11 million. With an opening weekend gross of $403,900, the horror sequel Terrifier 2 placed fourth among all new releases on Thursday.