Daniel Craig’s ‘Queer’ Approaches First Box Office Milestone Despite Limited Release

After previously directing Challengers, the spicy tennis drama starring Zendaya opposite Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor, Luca Guadagnino is back with a new flick that has an interesting box office report. Queer, the gay romance drama starring Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey, has been playing in theaters for two weekends and has yet to reach $1 million at the box office, which might seem like a major indictment; however, it earned $405,000 this weekend despite only playing in 47 theaters, bringing its per-theater total to over $8,000, fourth in the rankings this week behind Interstellar at $27,000, Moana 2 at $12,000, and Wicked at $9,000. Queer is only a limited release, but if it expands into more theaters, it could find major success at the box office.

Queer opened to $200,000 from only seven theaters last weekend, an impressive per-theater total of $28,000, even more than Interstellar’s $27,000 this weekend. It also rose 102% going from $200,000 on opening weekend to $405,000 during its second weekend, which is to be expected considering it added 40 theaters, but still impressive nonetheless. The film has yet to crack the top 30 on the list of the highest-grossing limited-release movies of the year, nowhere near Anora, which is winding down its theatrical spot as the highest-grossing limited-release movie of 2024 with over $13 million domestically. After starring in James Bond, Daniel Craig certainly has some box office goodwill, but as long as Queer is playing in less than 100 theaters across the country, it won’t be allowed to fully shine.

Another Daniel Craig Movie Had a Major Box Office Problem

One of Daniel Craig’s most famous roles of late has come in Rian Johnson’s Knives Out franchise, where the former James Bond actor plays Benoit Blanc, the smooth-talking detective with a flare for solving even the most ambitious of murder mysteries. In 2022, Craig starred in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, which grossed $15 million during a short theatrical run before premiering on Netflix. After the first Knives Out grossed over $310 million at the worldwide box office, Craig was understandably upset to see the second film pulled from theaters so soon and subject to a streaming release.

Queer is now playing in select theaters across the country. Stay tuned to Collider for future box office updates and find tickets below for a showtime near you.

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Queer

Set in 1940s Mexico City, it follows an American expat named Lee (played by Daniel Craig) who becomes infatuated with a younger man, Eugene Allerton (played by Drew Starkey). The film explores themes of longing, isolation, and obsession.

Runtime 135 Minutes

Writers William S. Burroughs , Justin Kuritzkes

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