Copyright Screen Rant
Bugonia is set to break its first box office record. Emma Stone reunites with Yorgos Lanthimos for the fourth time in a remake of the Korean movie, Save the Green Planet!, directed by Jang Joon-hwan. The new movie follows Stone's protagonist, who gets abducted by a conspiracy theorist who believes she is an alien. With Bugonia finally getting a wide release during Halloween weekend, the remake has already set its first box office record. According to Deadline, the Stone-starring movie is expected to make $4.4 million at the domestic box office. This marks the biggest wide opening weekend ever for Lanthimos after Poor Things previously set the record at $2.9 million. Currently, the black comedy has a domestic box office total of $5.5 million. Despite this record, Bugonia still has miles to go before becoming profitable due to the $45 million budget, which is also the filmmaker's most expensive movie to date. Lanthimos' highest-grossing movie is 2023's Poor Things, which made $34 million domestically and $111 million globally. While the box office year has been rough for many movies, Bugonia could find some momentum since the holidays are right around the corner. It also helps that the movie earned lots of critical acclaim, settling at an 86% score on Rotten Tomatoes. After Bugonia premiered at Venice in August, Stone became one of the strong contenders for Best Actress. Part of that is due to the headlines of Stone actually shaving her head for the movie. While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, she shared that she was "so afraid" to shave her head "because I am not awake there, I was like, play dead, basically, play dead." Stone could make Oscar history if she wins her third Best Actress award, a first for any actor since Katharine Hepburn. Hepburn holds the record for the most acting Oscar wins with four (Morning Glory, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Lion in Winter, and On Golden Pond). Lanthimos and Stone have become a dynamic duo, with several of their films getting Academy Award nominations and wins. The filmmaker was nominated twice for Best Director for Poor Things and The Favorite, while Stone won her second Oscar for the former. Bugonia also marks the second collaboration between Lanthimos and Jesse Plemons after Kinds of Kindness. Lanthimos does not have any movies in development after he confirmed to Collider that he is taking a "little break" from filmmaking. Stone also doesn't have any upcoming projects.
