Follow-up to the 2019 film has a chance to open to $20 million
“Downton Abbey: A New Era,” the follow-up to the 2019 feature film and the latest in the story of the aristocratic Crawley family established in the hit series, earned $1.05 million in its Thursday box office previews from 3,300 screens. “A New Era” opens on 3,815 screens this weekend, which is the widest opening for a Focus Features film in the specialty distributor’s history. There are high hopes that “Downton Abbey: A New Era” will be the film that can attract older audiences back to movie theaters in earnest for the first time since the pandemic began, and by grossing over $30 million thus far internationally, including strong showings in the UK and Ireland, those hopes may yet be realized. Independent analysts say the film has a decent chance of reaching $20 million at the domestic box office, while the studio is projecting a more conservative opening in the low to mid-teens.
