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 The cuddly creatures' once-promising film franchise is
looking awfully creaky after "Smurfs: The Lost Village" stumbled
at the domestic box office this weekend. The Sony release opened
to a negligible $14.1 million. The film was an attempt to
reinvigorate the series after 2013's "The Smurfs 2" racked up a
disappointing $347.5 million on a hefty $105 million budget.
It's a fall from quite a height. The first film, 2011's "The
Smurfs," had showed such promise, grossing $563.7 million
globally, but interest in the big screen adventures of the
creatures has waned with each sequel.
With the Smurfs failing to generate much excitement, DreamWorks
Animation and Fox's "The Boss Baby" captured first place at the
North American box office for the second consecutive weekend,
earning $26.3 million to push its domestic haul to $89.4
million. Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" came in second, pulling
in $25 million to push its stateside grosses to a lordly $432.3
million.
Box office analysts blame the glut of family titles for hobbling
the Smurfs. "They should have waited a few weeks to open it,"
said Jeff Bock, an analyst with Exhibitor Relations.
Bock was ready to write the obituary for the franchise, saying,
"A major studio does not open an animated film at $14 million
and expect to have a sequel."
This weekend is something of a throat clearing for the industry.
"The Fate of the Furious," the latest chapter in Universal's
long-running chronicle of vehicular carnage, is slated to roar
into theaters next Friday. It should dominate ticket sales,
racking up an $100 million debut and keeping Vin Diesel in
designer tank tops for the foreseeable future.
"It's looming large on the horizon," said Paul Dergarabedian,
senior media analyst at ComScore. "It's going to be a monstrous
debut."
New Line and Village Roadshow's "Going in Style" took fourth
place with $12.5 million. The comedy about three retirees who
rob a bank stars Morgan Freeman, Alan Arkin, and Michael Caine.
It's a low-budget remake of a 1979 comedy of the same name and
cost $24 million to produce. The film resonated with older
crowds, with 72% of the audience clocking in over the age of 50.
"The chemistry of the three guys really works together," said
Jeff Goldstein, domestic distribution chief at Warner Bros., New
Line's studio parent company. "They have fun together and it
shows. It was a core part of the film's appeal."
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 Paramount's "Ghost in the Shell" rounded out the top five,
grossing $7.3 million to bring its domestic gross to a
disastrous $31.6 million. The Japanese manga adaptation is
shaping up to be one of the year's biggest bombs. Dogged by
"whitewashing" controversy after Scarlett Johansson nabbed a
part intended for an Asian actress, "Ghost in the Shell" won't
stand a chance of recouping its $110 million production budget.
Sony isn't ready to wave the white flag on the Smurfs. The studio
notes that the previous two films earned more than 70% of their
gross from foreign markets. The studio is also pleased with the
film's A CinemaScore, a sign that audiences are responding to the
picture.
"We delivered a film that I think is the best yet," said Rory Bruer,
Sony's domestic distribution chief. "Word-of-mouth should be
strong."
Sony also reined in costs. "Smurfs: The Lost Village" has a $60
million production budget, a fraction of the previous two entries'
price tag. However, the weak result extends a punishing period for
Sony. The studio has been dogged by bombs such as "Life" and
"Inferno," while highly anticipated releases such as "Passengers," a
science-fiction romance with Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence,
struggled to turn a profit.
In limited release, "Their Finest" opened on four screens in New
York and Los Angeles to $77,000 for a per-screen average of $19,250.
The comedy is set in World War II-era London and follows a troop of
propaganda filmmakers. EuropaCorp bought the picture out of the
Toronto Film Festival -- STX is distributing "Their Finest" on its
behalf.
Neon, a new label from Alamo Drafthouse founder Tim League and indie
veteran Tom Quinn, debuted "Colossal" to $125,809 from four
theaters. The off-beat monster movie stars Anne Hathaway and enjoyed
a solid $31,452 per-screen average.
Overall ticket sales were up more than 15% on the prior-year period.
Last year at this time Melissa McCarthy's "The Boss" topped charts
with a $23.6 million bow. Thanks to hits such as "Beauty and the
Beast" and "Logan," 2017 continues to outpace 2016, with revenues up
5%.
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