Box office Cruella grossed $86.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $147.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $233.5 million. The film made $7.7 million in its first day, including $1.4 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $21.5 million and a total of $26.5 million over the four days, finishing second at the box office. 61% of the tracked audience was female, with 43% being under 25 years old. In its sophomore weekend the film grossed $11 million, finishing third behind
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and
A Quiet Place Part II. The film then fell to 5th place in its third weekend, grossing $6.7 million.
Deadline Hollywood wrote that despite having a running total of $71 million through five weeks, sources believed that the "Disney+ Premier PVOD tier is impacting the pic's overall revenue, not just at the box office, but in the movie's downstream ancillary revenues". The film made $26.5 million in its domestic opening and earned $16.1 million in 29 other countries, for a global debut of $43 million. In China,
Cruella debuted with a less-than-expected $1.7 million opening, finishing behind holdover
F9 which earned $8.9 million.
Critical response Cruella received mixed reviews. On the review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes, 75% of 415 critics have given the film a positive review, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "
Cruella can't quite answer the question of why its title character needed an origin story, but this dazzling visual feast is awfully fun to watch whenever its leading ladies lock horns." On
Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 59 out of 100 based on 56 critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while
PostTrak reported 84% of audience members gave it a positive score, with 63% saying they would definitely recommend it.
Peter Travers, reviewing the film for
ABC News, wrote:
Justin Chang of
Los Angeles Times remarked the movie as "dazzling fun" and lauded the performances of Stone and Thompson, of which he described the rivalry of the performances as "hard to resist on-screen", and hailed Beavan's costume design on the film as one of her best works since
Mad Max: Fury Road, while drawing parallels of the film's moral ambiguities and Stone's portrayal of the titular character to her previous performance as
Abigail Hill in
The Favourite.
Alonso Duralde of
TheWrap wrote: In addition, Duralde also lauded the performances of Stone, Hauser, and Thompson, drawing comparisons of the characterizations of the latter's portrayal of the Baroness to
Miranda Priestly in
The Devil Wears Prada and Reynolds Woodcock in
Phantom Thread.
Chicago Sun-Timess
Richard Roeper rated the film with 3/4 stars, and highlighted Gillespie's direction for being "clever" and "devilishly offbeat" while praising the performances of Stone and Thompson as "appropriately over-the-top and wildly entertaining", drawing its comparisons to
The Devil Wears Prada and also commended the costumes, makeup, and the production values of which he referred to as "spectacular", "dazzling" and a "visual feast", comparing its style to
Phantom Thread and noting the similarities of the vibe and tone of the film's soundtrack to
Goodfellas,
Kingsman: The Secret Service, and
Baby Driver.
The Daily Telegraphs
Robbie Collin scored the film four out of five, similarly praised the film, which he described as a "rollicking tale" and an "acid-tipped wackiness", and lauded the film for its different approach in the Disney live-action adaptations as well as the previous
101 Dalmatians versions and its interpretation of the central character in a new context. He also similarly praised the performances (particularly Stone and Thompson) as well as the supporting cast, which he referred to as "zany", while specifically remarking of Stone's performance of Cruella De Vil as "sharp-angled, hyper-expressive" and that Thompson's portrayal of the Baroness "stalks the fine line between threatening and ludicrous with stiletto-heel precision". In addition, Collin also praised the film's visual style and Beavan's costume design as "eyeball-popping" and "a garden-hose-blast to the eyeballs of pure sartorial flair and exuberance". K. Austin Collins of
Rolling Stone rated the film with three out of five stars, praising Stone's success in embodying the titular character, and describing her performance as "vampy, stylish, and cruel" while comparing the film's style of storytelling to
I, Tonya, of which he noted a similar
internalized victim-like story perspective of
Tonya Harding to Cruella de Vil and even pointed out on the similar "plausibly two-sided" depiction of Stone's Cruella to Andrea "Andy" Sachs from
The Devil Wears Prada, but with a twisted spin. He also commended the supporting performances, particularly Thompson and Hauser, referring the film as "a battle of wits and knits", "entertaining", and "fun".
The Hollywood Outsiders Morgan Lanier described the film as "taking place in the 70's with a lot of camp to lighten the mood", praising Stone for giving Cruella "a twist of vulnerability" and giving the longstanding Disney villain a "fun glimmer". Lanier also praised Thompson's performance saying "Thompson gives the baroness the ability to chill a room". Lanier concluded that the movie was "joyous, campy, great costumes [...] amplified by a killer soundtrack". Kate Erbland of
IndieWire gave the film a "B−", and labelling the film as "exciting" and "fun" and a "colorful, loud, and unexpected look" on the origin story of Cruella De Vil while Erbland singled out the praises on the casting and the performances of Stone, Thompson, Fry, Hauser, and the costumes, but found fault at the film's runtime of which she referred it as "bloated".
The Washington Posts
Ann Hornaday described the film as "tedious, transgressive, chaotic and inert". While praising the performances of Stone, Thompson, Fry, and Hauser, as well as the costumes; she criticized the film, writing, and the runtime of which she found it as "overstuffed", "overlong", and "miserably misanthropic".
Mick LaSalle of the
San Francisco Chronicle thought the film was misbegotten and felt that it favors more on style over substance. Though he praised Thompson's performance, the costume design and the soundtrack, he chided the film's writing as "lazy" and "careless". Matt Zoller Seitz of
RogerEbert.com gave the film 2/4 stars, and said: "There's no denying that
Cruella is stylish and kinetic, with a nasty edge that's unusual for a recent Disney live-action feature. But it's also exhausting, disorganized, and frustratingly inert, considering how hard it works to assure you that it's thrilling and cheeky."
Jacobins Eileen Jones labelled the film as a "dopey, uninspired, and tedious mess", specifically criticizing the script as "basically rotten" and describing the transformation of Cruella's character as "the complete mangling of one of the greatest Disney villains of all time". Jones took issue with the absence of the "implied critique [...] of Cruella's wealthy entitlement and mad consumer obsession" as shown in
101 Dalmatians, and the attempt to make a "legendary dalmatian-skinning villain" into a "scrappy, likable hero". Jones complimented the film's costume design, specifically emphasizing the "trash gown" shown at the Baroness fashion show, and describing it as "sufficiently cool that costume designer Jenny Beavan may win another Oscar".
Accolades ==Sequel==