Sandra Bullock deserves to stand right next to Leonardo DiCaprio as one of the last «butts in seats» movie stars.
Paramount’s hot streak continued as The Lost City topped the domestic box office with a rock-solid $31 million debut. With Sandra Bullock returning to the big screen for the first time since Ocean’s 8 (and the first time in a non-sequel since Our Brand Is Crisis in late 2015) and Channing Tatum in prime “I’m a lover, not a fighter” mode, the well-reviewed (76% and 6.4/10 on Rotten Tomatoes) rom-com adventure was seen as a test/great hope for the commercial theatrical viability of non-IP, star-driven, adult-skewing releases. In pre-streaming times, say around 2014, a Bullock/Tatum rom-com actioner would have been a surefire $40 million debut. In 2022, amid audiences becoming more acclimated to streaming and with Covid concerns keeping older/adult moviegoers out of theaters, a $31 million debut qualifies as a near-miracle. While, as Sandra Bullock’s Prince of Egypt character once sang, hope is frail, it is also (sing it with me now) hard to kill. It helps that The Lost City, which received an indecisive B+ from Cinemascore, contained four of the five “required items” for a viable “just a movie” release in pre-Covid times. It featured all-star cast (including Daniel Radcliffe as the baddie and Brad Pitt in a much-advertised cameo), an easy elevator pitch (a romance novelist gets kidnapped, and her cover model races to the rescue), decent reviews and the promise of cinematic escapism.
