Box Office: Leonardo DiCaprio’s ‘One Battle After Another’ Kicks Off With $22 Million

Paul Thomas Anderson’s comedic action thriller “One Battle After Another” topped box office charts in its debut, collecting $22.4 million from 3,634 North American theaters over the weekend. The film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as an ex-revolutionary on the run, added another $26.1 million internationally for a global tally of $48.5 million.

Box office experts are mixed on what to make of those initial results. A low $20 million debut is disappointing for a film that cost above $130 million to produce and another $70 million to market. And “One Battle After Another” certainly requires a huge turnout — roughly $300 million globally — to break even theatrically.

But the R-rated film is original (and nearly three hours long) and doesn’t enjoy the built-in audience that benefits franchise fare like “Superman” or “Jurassic World: Rebirth.” Moreover, Warner Bros. keeps defying box office expectations, generating hits of all shapes and sizes from the kid-centric “A Minecraft Movie” and “Superman” to the not-so-family-friendly “Sinners,…