New John Malkovich Thriller Drops At Box Office Despite Adding 1000 Theaters

Published Nov 15, 2026, 12:11 PM EST

Brennan Klein (he/him) is a senior news writer at Screen Rant, host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast, and contributor at Alternate Ending and Horror Press. He has been writing and podcasting about pop culture (especially horror movies) for over a decade at platforms including Blumhouse, Fangoria, Dread Central, The Backlot, and Arrow in the Head.

Wild Horse Nine doesn't have a huge amount of horsepower at the box office in week 2.

The new Martin McDonagh movie stars two-time Oscar nominee John Malkovich and Oscar winner Sam Rockwell as two fictional CIA officers participating in the real-life operation to destabilize the government of Chile in 1973. The movie's star-studded supporting cast also includes Emmy winner Steve Buscemi, Oscar nominee Tom Waits, and two-time Emmy nominee Parker Posey. 2026's Wild Horse Nine debuted on November 6, hitting No. 8 at the domestic box office with a 3-day haul of $5.9 million in 1,100 theaters.

Per Deadline, Wild Horse Nine is playing in 2,175 domestic theaters during its sophomore weekend, having been added to 1,075 screens in an expansion from its debut. However, in spite of this wider release, it has dropped 22% week over week with a projected 3-day gross of $4.6 million.

This total sees it maintaining its position at No. 8 on the domestic Top 10 chart. Although three new releases have debuted above it, namely the Johnny Depp-led Christmas Carol adaptation Ebenezer (No. 1), the Jim Caviezel action movie Ghost Soldier (No. 6), and the Nicholas Hoult crime movie How to Rob a Bank (No. 7), Wild Horse Nine had a slimmer drop than multiple holdover titles, including Laika's Wildwood (No. 6 to No. 9, dropping 40%), DC's Clayface (No. 7 to No. 10, dropping 45%), and Angel Studios' Drummer Boy (No. 3 to off the Top 10).

If this 22% drop holds by the end of the weekend, Wild Horse Nine will tie with 1982's Poltergeist and 1994's 8 Seconds for the 517th smallest domestic drop in history for a movie that opened on 600 screens or more.

While a movie must be released on 600 screens or more in order to be considered a wide release, most major modern blockbusters open on 3,000 screens or more.

In spite of this drop, which sees Wild Horse Nine's per-screen average dropping sharply from $5,369 to $2,115, the movie is still performing well at the box office. At the time of writing, it has already earned a cumulative global gross of $28 million worldwide after 10 days in theaters. Because it has a reported budget of roughly $15 million, it most likely does not need to earn more than $37.5 million worldwide before it is officially in the black.

It has several advantages that could help the movie climb past that benchmark by the end of its run. This includes strong Wild Horse Nine reviews that have earned it a Certified Fresh score of 94% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes with a Verified Hot score of 91% from audiences.

Choose the movie with the higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

Wild Horse Nine has also garnered significant Oscar buzz. If it does end up being a major player in awards season (just like Martin McDonagh's two most recent movies, The Banshees of Inisherin, which was nominated for nine Oscars and won three Golden Globes, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which was nominated for seven Oscars and won two of them in addition to taking home four Golden Globes), re-releases in the new year could help it add a significant amount to its overall box office gross.

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