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Rebel Wilson\u2019s film The Deb<\/em><\/a> will have to find its audience on a streaming service after a disappointing opening in cinemas on the weekend.<\/p>\n Expectations that the comic musical would struggle because of a tangle of lawsuits<\/a> in Australia and the US that severely limited its promotion proved accurate when it took just $116,000 on 188 screens across Australia.<\/p>\n According to box office data from Numero, The Deb<\/em> averaged a poor $618 per screen.<\/p>\n That was despite some enthusiastic reviews that included Sandra Hall in this masthead<\/a> praising the film\u2019s \u201cjoyous mood\u201d and writing that it was \u201ca wonderful mix of the raucous and the heartfelt and charges along at an exhilarating pace\u201d. In The Australian<\/em>, Nikki Gemmell described<\/a> The Deb<\/em> as \u201chilarious: filthy, fun, but most of all moving\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Adapted by Hannah Reilly from her 2022 stage musical<\/a>, The Deb<\/em> is about a city private school student (Charlotte MacInnes) who is sent to stay with her country cousin (Natalie Abbott) just before a debutante ball.<\/p>\n After the film\u2019s release was postponed from earlier in the year, it opened in cinemas just before MacInnes\u2019 defamation action against Wilson<\/a> begins in the Federal Court next Monday. The film\u2019s producers have also lodged defamation lawsuits against Wilson, who has filed a countersuit. Wilson directs and also stars in the film.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel genuinely upset for the filmmakers,\u201d Palace Cinemas chief executive Benjamin Zeccola said. \u201cSo many people work on a film, and it\u2019s a tragedy. I hope everyone can pick themselves up and move on.\u201d<\/p>\n The box office return meant The Deb<\/em> would lose many of its sessions from Thursday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cOn the upside, hopefully having a theatrical release and [being] reviewed by the major papers over the weekend, at least it now has some awareness that it didn\u2019t have a few weeks ago,\u201d Zeccola said. \u201cThat will help it going into the next stage of its life in home viewing.\u201d<\/p>\n Peter Howard, the proprietor of Howard Cinemas in Taree and Tuncurry in regional NSW, called the opening figures \u201cquite disastrous\u201d for a film aimed at a broad audience.<\/p>\n He said the \u201cpublic shenanigans\u201d made it a case study in how to sabotage a release in the public\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was my lowest ranked film,\u201d Howard said. \u201cI\u2019m finishing the film on Wednesday.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n While he personally enjoyed The Deb<\/em>, Howard said it needed a judicious edit and had been unable to overcome the legal dramas that started even before the world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2024. <\/p>\n Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees.<\/i><\/b> Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\nFrom our partners<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/header>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n