Mickey 17has outgrossed one of director Bong Joon Ho’s previous hits. The new science fiction movie, which is adapted from the Edward Ashton novelMickey7, stars Robert Pattinson as a man who is repeatedly cloned every time he dies while being forced to test a dangerous planet that is being colonized. TheMickey 17releasekicked off on March 7, taking No. 1 at the domestic box office with a $19 million total that saw it become the first movie to knock the holdover titleCaptain America: Brave New Worldfrom its perch on top of the chart.
PerVariety, as of Sunday morning,Mickey 17is projected to conclude its second weekend in theaters with a cumulative worldwide box office total of $90 million. This sees it surpassing the $86.7 million earned by 2014’sSnowpiercerto make itBong Joon Ho’s highest-grossing English-language release to date. The only Korean-language movies ahead of it in the director’s filmography are the monster movieThe Host($92.6 million) and the Best Picture winnerParasite($253.8 million).
What This Means For Mickey 17
Its Box Office Success Is Hampered By Its Budget
At the rate it is going, it seemshighly likely thatMickey 17will easily pass the $100 million milestoneat the worldwide box office, which is a feat that only three 2025 releases have accomplished so far, namelyCaptain America: Brave New World,Dog Man, andBridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. This would also see it push pastThe Hostto become the second highest-grossingBong Joon Ho movieof all time, in any language.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boyis the third highest-grossing movie of the year in spite of the fact that it did not receive a theatrical release in North America, where it is a Peacock exclusive.
In spite of this record, which is compounded by the fact that theMickey 17opening weekendwas the best domestic debut for a Bong Joon Ho movie,the movie is still struggling to break even in theaters. It comes with a massively risky production budget of $118 million, which probably places its break-even point somewhere around $295 million. Even if it outgrossesParasite, which is an unlikely prospect considering that movie’s stellar word of mouth, it would probably have to do so by more than $40 million just to turn a profit.
Our Take On The Mickey 17 Box Office
The Bong Joon Ho Movie Is A Unique Project
Even thoughMickey 17will likely be a financial disappointment by the end of its run, the fact that it was made at all is a net positive.The movie has been generally well received by both critics and audiences, earning scores of 78% and 73% from those respective groups on Rotten Tomatoes. Though its commercial prospects are uncertain, even after its upcoming VOD and streaming debuts, the fact that a non-franchise science fiction movie was given such a lavish budget makes for an interesting project, if not a particularly lucrative one.
