Honey Don’t! Box Office Prediction

Out August 22nd, the dark detective comedy Honey Don’t! marks the second feature in Ethan Coen and wife Tricia Cooke’s self-proclaimed “lesbian B-movie trilogy”. The first was last year’s Drive-Away Dolls and the follow-up returns Margaret Qualley in a starring role. Costars include Aubrey Plaza, Charlie Day, Billy Eichner, and Chris Evans.

The Focus Features product debuted at Cannes to muted reactions. Rotten Tomatoes stands at just 42% with 46 on Metacritic. Looking at comps, Dolls is the glaringly obvious one. It debuted to a lowly $2.4 million in February 2024. That premiered on over 2200 screens while Don’t is scheduled for a mere 1200.

With scant buzz and middling reviews, I’m not even sure this reaches two bucks for starters.

Honey Don’t opening weekend prediction: $1.8 million

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Oscar Predictions: Honey Don’t!

Before to its domestic debut in August, Honey Don’t! dropped at Cannes for a midnight screening. The crime comedy is Ethan Coen and wife Tricia Cooke’s follow-up to last year’s Drive-Away Dolls. It also stars Margaret Qualley with a supporting cast including Aubrey Plaza, Charlie Day, and Chris Evans.

Marking Ethan’s second narrative work sans brother Joel (and with Cookie co-scripting), Don’t! mostly arrived with a shrug in France. The Rotten Tomatoes score is 54% with Metacritic at 47. That’s below the respective 63/56 ratings for Dolls. Coen’s “first” picture never came close to being an awards contender and this won’t either. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…

Oscar Predictions: Drive-Away Dolls

Ethan Coen makes his solo directorial debut with Drive-Away Dolls, which parks in theaters this Friday and is co-scripted by his wife Tricia Cooke. Originally slated for a fall 2023 bow until the five month push, the screwball road comedy clocks in at a brisk 84 minutes. Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan star with a supporting cast including Beanie Feldstein, Colman Domingo, Pedro Pascal, Bill Camp, and Matt Damon.

In 2021, Ethan’s brother Joel made his first behind the camera effort sans his sibling with The Tragedy of Macbeth. That Shakespearian tale garnered three Oscar nods for Actor (Denzel Washington), Cinematography, and Production Design.

Early reviews for Dolls are all over the map with a current RT rating of 72%. Attention from the Academy seems highly unlikely. I’m not confident the Globes will bite either in their Musical/Comedy competitions (though maybe Qualley or Viswanathan could sneak in if the Actress race is weak). My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…