‘Don’t Worry Darling’ Sells Out (In IMAX)

In what could be a sign of good news to come, IMAX is reporting that their sneak peek event for Don’t Worry Darling sold out 21 of its 100 planned locales in under 24 hours. IMAX and Warner Bros. Discovery are claiming Don’t Worry Darling: The IMAX Live Experience has become the fastest-selling IMAX Live event to date, with 15 more theaters being at least 50% sold out as of this moment. The paid sneak preview (presumably included in the Thursday preview grosses) will feature an exclusive Q&A with director Olivia Wilde and most of the cast (Harry Styles, Gemma Chan, Nick Kroll, Sydney Chandler, Kate Berland, Asif Ali and Douglas Smith). No, Florence Pugh and Chris Pine won’t be there, so you can snicker and presume that as more evidence of a film in post-release chaos.

No, I don’t think Harry Styles intentionally spit on Chris Pine after the Venice premiere any more than I think Godzilla was merely offering a handshake before getting decked by King Kong in the first big Godzilla Vs. Kong battle scene. The respective interpretations do provide for harmless fun. However, much of the melodrama (about Pugh and Wilde not getting along, about whether Shia LeBeouf was fired or quit, about whether Wilde spent too much time canoodling with Styles, etc.) feels gender-specific in tone. The (mostly) manufactured scandals are being paraded about by the same outlets that have spent the last two years promoting almost every celebrity profile as a win for diversity and inclusivity. The film is what we say Hollywood should make, an original, adult-skewing, R-rated, mid-budget studio programmer from a promising ‘not a white guy’ filmmaker. Yet, it is getting sandbagged.

The good news is that if audiences want to see a film, they’ll see it no matter the backstage drama and tabloid-ish digressions. They ignored the bad press around (for example) The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith and even G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and turned those into (at least on opening weekend) boffo hits. The optimistic notion for the over/under $25 million erotic fantasy thriller ($20 million plus Covid-related upcharges) is that the gossip bleeds into the real world (as opposed to just being discussed among the perpetually online). It raises the film’s profile while making an over/under $20 million opening more plausible. The pessimistic fear is that Don’t Worry Darling will merely become one of a gazillion films in recent years that was far more blogged about, discoursed about and gabbed about on social media than seen by paying moviegoers.

This could go either way. Warner Bros. has a long history of successfully selling less-conventional mainstream flicks into unmitigated box office hits, think Magic Mike, American Crazy Rich Asians and Elvis. The trailers have played to demographically-friendly audiences before theatrical showings of Elvis, Where the Crawdads Sing and Nope for much of the summer. While the reviews are mixed-negative thus far, most of the pans still assure audiences that it delivers the primal elements (hot movie stars being hot in a pulpy, fantastical thriller) that the marketing promises. Or, this could be a case of fewer non-online folks caring or the mixed reviews making too many wait for PVOD or HBO Max. If it stumbles, it’ll be despite the gossip, not because of it. Still, 13,000 tickets have been sold for the IMAX event, and they can’t all be die-hard Harry Styles fans.