Novocaine starring Jack Quaid smashes its way through a huge box office milestone

Jack Quaid's Novocaine has just seen a box office milestone as the film earned back its production budget and is leaning towards a box office success now.

After spending its first week in theaters, the film has recovered its $18 million production budget. With $15 million earned domestically and another $5.3 million earned abroad, the film now has collective earnings of $21 million.

This number can only be expected to increase as the film spends more time in theaters. Even though it started off slowly, the film is now picking up pace. Apart from financial factors, the film has become a success among fans and critics as it stands with a 83% score on Rotten Tomatoes and has also brought in positive reviews overall.

Quaid's performance in the film is particularly noteworthy and the comedy elements blending with the film's action make it all the more a better watch.

The box office state of the recently released films has not seen significant success, with Mickey 17 earning $35.7 million domestically and $92.2 million worldwide so far and Disney's Snow White managing to earn a dismal $83 million after the first weekend. Meanwhile, Michael Fassbender's Black Bag has only brought in $24.1 million as of now.

What is Novocaine about?

The crime thriller follows Nathan Caine, an introverted man with a congenital insensitivity to pain, who goes on a quest when his colleague and romantic interest, Sherry Margrave, is kidnapped during a Christmas Eve bank heist.

Not acting on anything at first, Nathan's desperation later drives him to reckless heights, forcing him into a world of violence where he has to face cold-blooded criminals and his own boundaries. Accompanied by his internet gamer friend Roscoe, he assembles clues, fighting vicious battles and fatal traps.

The film also pays close attention to Nathan's complicated relationship with Sherry, whom he later finds out was actually an accomplice in the heist and not the victim.

The film stars Quaid as Nathan while Amber Midthunder plays Sherry Margrave and Jacob Batalon stars as Roscoe Dixon, his gaming friend. The film is directed by Dan Berk with a script written by Lars Jacobson.

For Quaid, it was particularly difficult to shoot the action scenes as his character is numb to pain while still having to act out that he's getting attacked physically. Talking about the role, Quaid told USA TODAY,

"There's something so fun about being a hero, too. Especially someone like Nate, who is more complicated than your average nervous action hero. The movie's so violent, I need to make him this sweetie pie. He can't be dark or brooding or angry, really. He has to be a cupcake of a human."