As has been the case with several of Sofia Coppola’s films over the past twenty years, Coppola’s biographical drama filmPriscillahas received critical acclaim and is regarded as a serious Oscar contender. Indeed, the film’s Oscar aspirations are especially evident in the nature and timing of the film’s release, as distributors typically release their most Oscar-worthy films in October and November.
Moreover, by initially releasingPriscillain only four theaters, prior to the film’s nationwide theatrical expansion to approximately 1,300 theaters, the film’s distributor, A24, clearly believes that audience and critical enthusiasm forPriscillawill sustain the film commercially during theOscar campaign season. This is the same strategy that Focus Features has employed with Alexander Payne’s Oscar-hyped comedy-drama filmThe Holdovers, which debuted concurrently withPriscillain only six theaters.
However, whileThe HoldoversandPriscillaperformed similarly well during their respective limited-release engagements, with nearly identical per-theater averages, the nationwide theatrical expansion forPriscillahasn’t resulted in the kind of upward trajectory in the film’s box office performance thatPriscillaneeds to become an unqualified box office hit.
Priscilla’s Story
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Based onPriscilla Presley’s 1985 memoirElvis and Me,Priscillaexplores Priscilla’s relationship with Elvis Presley, beginning with their fateful first encounter in 1959 and then continuing to their 1967 wedding and 1973 divorce. Elvis is played in the film by Jacob Elordi, while Priscilla is played by Cailee Spaeny, and both of these excellent performances have deservedly generated Oscar buzz.
While there are genuine comparisons to be made betweenPriscillaand Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 biographical drama filmElvis, in which Austin Butler plays Elvis and Priscilla is played by Olivia DeJonge,Priscillaclearly differentiates itself from Elvis by focusing primarily on the film’s titular character, specifically in terms of the increasing sense of isolation that Priscilla purportedly experienced throughout her relationship with Elvis.
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Besides the differing narrative approaches of the films, the biggest point of differentiation betweenElvisandPriscillais thatPriscilla, unlikeElvis, doesn’t feature a single Elvis song. The Elvis Presley estate refused to grantPriscilladirector Sofia Coppolapermission to feature any Elvis songs inPriscilla, which had a reported budget of $20 million against the $85 million budget forElvis.
Given the absence of Elvis songs inPriscillaand the film’s focus on Priscilla Presley, it’s hardly surprising that there doesn’t seem to be much transference of support fromElvistoPriscilla, which grossed approximately $5.1 million in its opening weekend at the domestic box office, far short of the $31.2 million thatElvisgenerated in its domestic opening weekend.
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While the current box office performance ofPriscillahasfallen far short of that ofElvis, which grossed approximately $288 million at the worldwide box office, the box office performance ofPriscillais nonetheless fairly consistent with that of Sofia Coppola’s films over the past decade.
In fact,Priscillasurpassed the modest commercial expectations that were attached to the film. The $5.1 million domestic opening weekend figure fell almost squarely within industry projections, which called for a domestic opening weekend gross of between $3 million and $8 million.
Priscilla Cast and Character Guide
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Coppola’s 2017 psychological thriller filmThe Beguiledgrossed $3.2 million in its domestic opening weekend from 674 theaters, on its way to a domestic total gross of $10.6 million, while Coppola’s 2013 crime filmThe Bling Ringgrossed $5.8 million throughout its entire domestic run. Coppola’s 2006 historical drama filmMarie Antoinettegrossed approximately $5.3 million in its domestic opening weekend, from 859 theaters, on its way to a total domestic gross of nearly $16 million.
Of course, Coppola’s most commercially successful film was her breakout sophomore feature directorial outing, the 2003 romantic comedy-drama filmLost in Translation, which received four Oscar nominations and brought Coppola a Best Original Screenplay Oscar. Fueled by critical acclaim,Lost in Translationgrossed nearly $45 million domestically and just over $74 million overseas for a worldwide total gross of approximately $118.7 million.
Priscilla Needs Oscar Momentum
In its second weekend at the domestic box office,Priscilla, which has yet to be released theatrically overseas, grossed approximately $4.8 million for a current domestic and worldwide total of roughly $12.7 million. While the $4.8 million figure represents a minuscule drop of less than five percent from the previous weekend, the second-weekend figure came from approximately 2,360 theaters, an approximately 1,000-theater expansion from the previous weekend.
With an estimated budget of approximately $20 million,Priscillawill have to gross at least $50 million at the domestic box office just to reach its domestic theatrical break-even point, excluding the film’s overseas box office gross and post-theatrical revenue streams. At its current pace,Priscillais projected to gross between $25 million and $30 million throughout its domestic theatrical run, which distributor A24 doubtlessly hopes will continue into next year.
While a $30 million domestic box office total would certainly givePriscillathe aura of being an independent film hit, especially when compared to the box office performances of Sofia Coppola’s previous films over the past decade, this would represent a domestic theatrical loss for the film’s distributor,A24, which obviously had its biggest success, commercial and otherwise, with the 2022 Oscar-winning filmEverything Everywhere All at Once. However, a $30 million domestic total would certainly putPriscillain a good position to achieve overall profitability with the eventual addition of the film’s overseas box office gross and post-theatrical revenue streams.
Indeed, the best chance forPriscillato achieve box office success, in terms of domestic theatrical profitability, is for the film to generate the same level of Oscar speculation that enabledEverything Everywhere All at OnceandLost in Translationto achieve mainstream box office success. However, given the fact that Sofia Coppola’s films have only received a single Oscar nomination, a Best Costume Design nomination forMarie Antoinette, over the past decade, this seems unlikely to happen.
