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 The animated comedy bottled up a leading $49 million from
3,773 locations, edging out Disney's "Beauty and the Beast," a
box office juggernaut that's dominated the multiplexes since
debuting three weeks ago. "Beauty and the Beast" added another $
$48 million to its mammoth $395.5 million domestic haul. The
weekend's other new release, Paramount's "Ghost in the Shell"
bombed, taking in a demoralizing $19 million.
Critics were cool toward "Boss Baby," which centers on a
cuteness standoff between babies and puppies. Alec Baldwin, in
vulpine "Glengarry Glen Ross" mode, voices a power suit-wearing
infant, leading a vocal cast that includes Tobey Maguire, Steve
Buscemi, Jimmy Kimmel, and Lisa Kudrow. DreamWorks Animation
produced the film for over $100 million, with Fox distributing
the picture. Heading into the weekend, "Boss Baby" had been
projected to debut to $30 million.
"The picture works because it's a great concept and having Alec
Baldwin, who is such as well known voice, voicing a baby is near
genius," said Chris Aronson, Fox's head of domestic
distribution.
Aronson said he was surprised that the reviews for the film
weren't stronger.
"I was shocked and still am," said Aronson. "It's nice when you
have critics and audiences aligned, but it's painful when you
don't get it. You wonder why do audiences like it so much and
the reviewers don't?"
"Ghost in the Shell," an adaptation of a popular Japanese manga
about a cyber-enhanced warrior (a be-spandexed Scarlett
Johansson) who must take down a cabal of terrorist hackers, was
produced in conjunction with DreamWorks Pictures and Reliance
Entertainment. If it wants to fight its way into the black, it
will need to get a big lift from foreign crowds. To that end,
the science-fiction story pulled in $40.1 million abroad from 50
foreign territories.
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Paramount has gone through a punishing run at the box office,
enduring costly flops such as "Allied" and "Ben-Hur," while going
through a series of executive shakeups that resulted in the ousters
of Chairman Brad Grey and Vice-Chairman Rob Moore. It has a newly
named studio chief in Jim Gianopulos, the former head of Fox's film
division, whose task it will be to bring more creative stability to
the company.
"Ghost in the Shell's" rollout was nearly subsumed by controversy
over its casting and accusations that by tapping Johansson the film
had engaged in "whitewashing." It was cited as exhibit A in a
larger, industry-wide debate about studios' habits of employing
white actors in Asian roles.
Lionsgate's "Power Rangers" and Warner Bros. and Legendary's "Kong:
Skull Island" rounded out the top five, earning $14.5 million and
$8.8 million, respectively. The Power Rangers reboot has grossed
$65.1 million in two weeks of release, while the latest King Kong
remake has made $147.8 million after four weeks in theaters.
In limited release, Focus Features' "The Zookeeper's Wife" opened to
$3.3 million in 541 locations this weekend. Jessica Chastain stars
in the film as a woman in World War II era Warsaw who tries to save
Jews during the Holocaust.
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