Japan Box Office: Robert Pattinson's Mickey 17 sees tepid start amid Wicked and Doraemon’s continued dominance

Mickey 17 opens to disappointing box office numbers in Japan, struggling to compete as Wicked and Doraemon maintain their dominance with strong audience turnout.

Written by Seema Sinha , Entertainment Journalist

Published on Mar 29, 2025 | 02:31 PM IST | 24.9K

Picture Courtesy: Warner Bros. Pictures

Mickey 17 took a tepid start in Japan on Friday, March 28, playing against Wicked and Snow White, two titles that have been constantly trying to topple each other from the top spot since earlier this month. Amid fans showing love for the latter two entries, they did not have much to offer to the Bong Joon Ho-helmed offering starring Robert Pattinson in the titular role. The Warner Bros. tentpole made a dismal USD 240K on its opening day.

Word of mouth for Mickey 17 is okayish in the region, with a 3.8-star rating from audiences, equivalent to a B+ CinemaScore. The film is eyeing an USD 800K to USD 1M three-day opening weekend.

For those unversed, the movie stars Pattinson as a financially struggling man in the dystopian 2054. He signs up to be an expendable for an intergalactic mission for a space organization, knowing full well that when an iteration of him dies, another will be cloned, with most of his consciousness intact. Things, however, go south when a previous version of him refuses to disappear, giving way to the film’s theme of existential crisis.

Made on a hefty USD 118 million budget, which does not include marketing costs, Mickey 17 is struggling to theatrically break even. As of this writing, the film has made USD 111M worldwide, with USD 41 million of the revenue coming from the US and Canada and USD 69 million from overseas locations.

Marking Bong’s return to the big screen since Parasite won numerous Academy Awards, including Best Director for him, the venture is now being seen as the victim of the Oscars curse. Let us elaborate.

Per The Hollywood Reporter’s analysis, many Best Director Oscar winners failed to deliver a hit after winning the prestigious accolade. Ang Lee followed Life of Pi with Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, which flopped. Damien Chazelle, the youngest Best Director winner for La La Land, saw his ambitious First Man underperform. Chloé Zhao, after Nomadland, struggled with Marvel’s Eternals, and there are multiple such examples dating back as far as the 1980s.

Per film historian Thomas Doherty’s observation for the aforementioned publication, the trend of Oscar-winning filmmakers delivering duds may be because people working with them entrust blind faith without questioning their judgment. By people, he meant producers, writers, and actors.

Mickey 17 is reported to lose Warner Bros. anywhere between USD 70 to USD 80 million.