'The Woman King' prevails with an estimated $18 million opening weekend

Sony's release over the weekend is starting at an estimated $18 million from 3,765 locations, according to most analysts' estimates.

Epic also benefited from the landing of some premium format auditoriums, such as Imax, which led to additional revenue growth.

While it doesn't necessarily qualify as a grand opening, it's a solid debut for an action film, which has a $50 million production budget and has no ties to an existing franchise. 

Not only this, it is enough for 'The Woman King' to top the box office charts on a slow weekend and with few rival releases.

Co-financed by eOne, "The Woman King" garnered a lot of buzz earlier this month, making a grand debut at the Toronto International Film Festival. 

Reviews have been largely glowing, with the film currently holding a 94% approval rating on the review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes

“The Woman King” stars and is produced by Viola Davis, with Gina Prince-Bythewood directing.