‘Where The Crawdads Sing’ Hits High Note At Domestic Box Office With $90M

Sony Pictures’ Where the Crawdads Sing has crossed the $90 million mark at the domestic box office, showing proof that it’s not just tentpoles that rule the roost on the big screen. The pic hit the mark on its 82nd day of release, Tuesday, after opening on July 15.

The movie based on the Delia Owens YA mystery novel opened to $17.2M and has a current leg-out factor of 5.2x, which is amazing for any wide title in this wonky marketplace. And it wasn’t even the Christmas season. Sony has pulled off great box office sleepers before, one of the more notable titles pre-pandemic being Little Women, which posted a 5-day start of $29.2M and legged out to $108.1M domestic and six Oscar noms and a win.

Also, it’s an amazing feat considering that Where the Crawdads Sing didn’t boast a major cast, just a star in its producer, Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon, whose Hello Sunshine is behind the film. It boils down to the power of the source material for this $24M production; the 2018 novel sold over 15M copies. Not all small films need to be relegated to streaming. Worldwide, Where the Crawdads Sing has made close to $132M. The 3000 Pictures release is one of 32 titles to cross the $90M threshold in U.S./Canada during the pandemic.

Another thing to stand up and applaud: Unlike pre-pandemic when critics seemed to determine the fate of films at the box office, Where the Crawdads Sing bucked bad reviews of 34% on Rotten Tomatoes; its 74% female driven audience spreading the buzz with an A- CinemaScore and 4 1/2 stars on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak. Also, the Olivia Newman directed movie was another title to draw older female moviegoers out during the pandemic, Where the Crawdads Sing leaned 55% women over 25 who gave the pic its highest grade on PostTrak of 87%.

Adapted by Lucy Alibar, Where the Crawdads Sing follows a woman, who has been raised in the marshes of the Deep South, and becomes a suspect in the murder of a man with whom she was once involved.

Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson, Michael Hyatt, Sterling Macer, Jr. and David Strathairn star in Where the Crawdads Sing. Lauren Neustadter also produces with Witherspoon. Executive producers are Rhonda Fehr and Betsy Danbury.