I Know What You Did Last Summer' earned $2.2 million in Thursday previews, while A24's 'Eddington' grossed $625,000 at the box office.

Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal face off in "Eddington." Credit: A24 Comedy is tragedy plus time. There may be a day when critics look back on Ari Aster's COVID-19 comedy Eddington with kinder eyes.

In Ari Aster’s dark comedy, Joaquin Phoenix plays the sheriff of a New Mexico town riven by political clashes and pandemic anxieties.

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Travis Hopsin of Punch Drunk Critics says the fear surrounding the pandemic, Black Lives Matter and the George Floyd protests that’s depicted in Eddington is “designed to enrage us,” but the most terrifying part of Ari Aster’s film is how accurate it is. The critic says:

The first and maybe only true jump scare in Ari Aster’s “Eddington” comes right at the start. A barefoot old man trudges down the center of a road running through an empty Western town. He’s ranting and incoherently raving as he climbs a craggy hill silhouetted against a twilight sky. He gazes, or maybe glares, out at the town below.

Writer and director Ari Aster joins Morning Joe to discuss the new film 'Eddington' which examines the mood in America during the Covid lockdowns.

The reboot of I Know What You Did Last Summer banked $2.2 million in previews. A24's Eddington, did $625K. 'Superman' to remain No. 1 with $60M.

Despite its positives, "Eddington" feels hindered by the same quirks and indulgence that have made Ari Aster such a divisive filmmaker to begin with.