Danny Boyle’s fantasy fable, Yesterday, has launched with a respectable $1.3 million at 2,200 North American locations in Thursday night preview showings.
Universal-Working Title film, starring newcomer Himesh Patel as an aspiring songwriter, is forecast to debut in the $10 million range this weekend at 2,603 sites.
Yesterday is set in an alternate reality in which Patel’s character skyrockets to superstardom after a freak accident leaves him as the only person who remembers the Beatles.
Lily James, Kate McKinnon and Ed Sheeran, who plays himself, co-star in the movie, which features new versions of hit Beatles songs.
Danny Boyle, the filmmaker behind the Oscar winner “Slumdog Millionaire” and the cult movie “Trainspotting,” directed “Yesterday,” written by “Love Actually” screenwriter Richard Curtis.
The film is too sweet-natured, too cute, too soft, lacking the edge of most of Boyle’s other features.
Yesterday, which was rejected by Cannes Film Fest, premiered in May as the closing night of the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival.
Reviews have been mixed with a 61% score on Rotten Tomatoes.