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 That’s a mediocre start given the fantasy film’s $110 million
budget. However, the adaptation of Ransom Riggs’ best-selling
young adult novel is doing well overseas where it made $36.5
million from 59 territories, so its global grosses could push it
into the black. Burton is responsible for blockbusters such as
“Batman” and “Planet of the Apes,” but his commercial touch has
been spotty of late. He hasn’t had a major hit since 2010’s
“Alice in Wonderland,” with audiences rejecting the likes of
“Dark Shadows,” “Frankenweenie,” and “Big Eyes.” Fox and Chernin
Entertainment backed “Miss Peregrine’s.”
Fox domestic distribution chief Chris Aronson said he was
pleased with the results, but said it was too early to say
whether or not a new franchise had been created.
“It’s a promising start, but it’s too early to tell,” he said.
“There are multiple books and they are best-sellers, so the door
is open.”
Sequels or not, “Miss Peregrine’s” is in a much better position
than “Deep Water Horizon,” after the expensive adventure drama
from the “Lone Star” team of Mark Wahlberg and Peter Berg
collapsed with a $20.6 million opening. The look at the men and
women who were forced to grapple with one of the worst oil
spills in history cost roughly $120 million to produce after
incentives are taken into account. The hope is that strong
word-of-mouth will bolster sales in the coming weeks and that
the film will follow the blueprint of other adult dramas such as
“Fury” and “The Town” by showing some endurance. But analysts
are skeptical.
“You don’t spend that much money on this kind of film,” said
Jeff Bock, an analyst with Exhibitor Relations. “It’s a tough
sell.”
Critics liked the film, handing it an 82% “fresh” rating on
Rotten Tomatoes. However, the strong reviews didn’t translate
into ticket sales. Lionsgate, the studio behind the film, has
had a rough period at the box office. It is struggling to find a
replacement for “The Hunger Games,” the hugely successful young
adult series that concluded last year, and has seen the likes of
“Gods of Egypt,” “Blair Witch,” and “The Divergent Series:
Allegiant,” falter at the multiplexes. At the same time, the
company’s share price has dropped more than 50% since last fall.
Lionsgate’s movie arm hopes to regain its stride with the
upcoming release of “La La Land,” an acclaimed musical with Ryan
Gosling and Emma Stone, and “Hacksaw Ridge,” a war drama from
Mel Gibson.
Then there’s “Masterminds.” The heist-comedy about a hapless
band of robbers was originally scheduled to be released last
year, but found itself entangled in Relativity Media’s
bankruptcy proceedings. Freshly emerged from Chapter 11,
Relativity had hoped that its release would signal to Hollywood
that the studio has put its financial troubles behind it. Yet,
“Masterminds” eked out a feeble $6.6 million, a disastrous
result for the mid-budget comedy. At one point during its
bankruptcy proceedings, Relativity predicted that “Masterminds”
would generate $125.4 million in revenues for the studio over
its lifetime and $47.1 million in profit. Those projections now
look very rosy.
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Disney’s “Queen of Katwe” also bombed in its expansion. The drama
about a chess prodigy from Uganda only managed to generate roughly
$2.6 million after moving from 52 to 1,242 screens. It has made a
disappointing $3 million since it opened. Disney is primarily in the
blockbuster business, offering up Marvel adventures, “Star Wars”
sequels and spin-offs, and the latest Pixar fantasies. It has,
however, tried to do a series of uplifting, lower-budgeted dramas
such as “Million Dollar Arm” and “McFarland, USA,” with middling
results.
Last weekend’s champion, “The Magnificent Seven,” slid to third
place, earning $15.7 million. The Western remake with Denzel
Washington has racked up $61.6 million in its first two weeks of
release.
The animated comedy “Storks” and Clint Eastwood’s “Sully,” took
fourth and fifth place, earning $13.8 million and $8.4 million,
respectively. “Storks” has made $38.8 million in its first two weeks
in theaters, while “Sully” has racked up an impressive $105.4
million over its first month of release.
In limited release, Bleecker Street’s “Denial,” a drama about a
Holocaust denier, debuted to $102,101 on five theaters for a $20,420
per-screen average. The indie studio will continue to expand the
film’s release in the coming weeks pushing it into ten new markets
and more than 25 theaters.
“It’s accessible, it’s intelligent, and it’s riveting,” said Jack
Foley, Bleecker Street’s distribution chief. “People come away
having had an outstanding time at the movies.”
A24 also bowed “American Honey,” a buzzy look at a mag crew that
took Cannes by storm, in four theaters where it made $75,370 for a
per-screen average of $18,843.
Overall ticket sales fell short of the year-ago period when “The
Martian” kicked off to a massive $54.3 million. Revenues were down
nearly 25% at roughly $114 million, the third straight weekend of
declines.
“There’s so much competition for the movies,” said Paul
Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at ComScore. “You’ve got the
fall television season kicking into high gear and people are so
distracted with the presidential election. The films out there are
not resonating on their own or there are too many distractions.”
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