In an encouraging sign for specialized product, Sony/3000 Pictures/Hello Sunshine’s Where the Crawdads Sing has crossed the $100 million benchmark globally. Getting there on Tuesday, the feature adaptation of the Delia Owens novel sits at $78.8M domestic and $21.5M from the international box office.
Crawdads initially released domestically in mid-July with $17M; a good win for a $24M production before P&A, and ahead of other female-skewing novels on screen pre-pandemic. It also charmed audiences at 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, despite a critical score of 34%.
The Daisy Edgar-Jones led movie is directed by Olivia Newman (First Match) from a screenplay by Lucy Alibar (Beasts of the Southern Wild).
It’s on a staggered offshore release, still with Brazil, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Korea and Japan to come.
To date, the top overseas markets are the UK ($8.6M), Australia ($6.7M), Germany ($1.3M), New Zealand ($1M) and France ($821K).
Where the Crawdads Sing tells the story of Kya, an abandoned girl who raised herself to adulthood in the dangerous marshlands of North Carolina. For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, isolating the sharp and resilient Kya from her community. Drawn to two young men from town, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world; but when one of them is found dead, she is immediately cast by the community as the main suspect. As the case unfolds, the verdict as to what actually happened becomes increasingly unclear, threatening to reveal the many secrets that lay within the marsh.
Taylor John Smith (Sharp Objects), Harris Dickinson (The King’s Man), Michael Hyatt (Snowfall), Sterling Macer Jr (Double Down) and Oscar nominee David Strathairn also star.