‘Babygirl’ Flirts with Major Global Box Office Achievement

Along with Nosferatu, Halina Reijn‘s erotic thriller Babygirl is providing textbook counter-programming amid a sea of family-friendly films that debuted over the holidays. While it hasn’t been as major a hit as director Robert Eggers‘ horror film, it has successfully attracted a demographic that was believed to have been lost. After half-a-month in release, Babygirl is approaching a new global box office milestone, having emerged as one of A24’s biggest hits of last year. The movie stars Nicole Kidman in the lead role of a powerful CEO who has an affair with a much younger intern, played by Harris Dickinson.

With over $20 million domestically, Babygirl is now A24’s fourth-biggest hit of 2024, behind Civil War ($68 million), Heretic ($27 million), and We Live in Time ($24 million). In all likelihood, it will overtake both Heretic and We Live In Time to become the indie studio’s second-biggest hit of 2024. This weekend, its third, Babygirl reported the best hold of any film in the top 10 (31%). The movie actually witnessed just a 1% drop in weekend two. Globally, Babygirl has grossed $28 million so far, which puts it on track to pass the $30 million milestone this week. It’s doing this while playing in under 2,000 domestic theaters.

Babygirl premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival alongside another A24 film, The Brutalist. Kidman won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress. The movie opened to positive reviews, and is currently sitting at a “fresh” 77% approval rating on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. However, the film’s audience score is at odds with the kind of resilience that it has been showing at the box office. According to Rotten Tomatoes, crowds have rated it a “rotten” 48%. In his review, Collider’s Martin Tsai described the film as “beyond noxious.”

‘Babygirl’s Divisiveness Is Attracting Audiences to Theaters

While erotic thrillers were extremely popular (and successful) in the 1990s, the genre has been mostly relegated to streaming in recent years. Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas starred in Adrian Lyne‘s Prime Video movie Deep Water in 2022, while Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich starred in Netflix’s Fair Play, directed by Chloe Domont. Babygirl has been just as divisive as those movies, but that comes with the territory. You can watch the film in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

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Babygirl follows a high-powered CEO, played by Kidman, who jeopardizes her career and family by engaging in a risky affair with her much younger intern, portrayed by Dickinson. The movie explores themes of power dynamics and desire, drawing inspiration from films like Indecent Proposal and Basic Instinct.
 

Director

Halina Reijn

Runtime

114 Minutes