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In its second weekend of release, the latest
installment in Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe has collected
$61 million from 4,534 North American theaters. Ticket sales
were down 67% from its opening weekend, marking a steeper drop
off compared to recent Marvel movies like "Eternals" (which
declined 61% in its second weekend) and "Shang-Chi and the
Legend of the Ten Rings" (which declined 52% in its second
weekend). However, that sizable decline is not surprising since
"Doctor Strange 2" is coming off the 11th biggest opening
weekend in history with $187 million. After 10 days on the big
screen, the standalone superhero adventure has grossed a strong
$291 million in North America.
At the international box office, the "Strange" sequel added
$83.5 million from 49 markets. In total, the film has grossed
$688.1 million globally.
When Disney unleashes a Marvel movie in theaters, rival studios
tend to shy away from opening new films -- or risk getting
crushed in its wake. Over the weekend, two movies opened
nationwide to disappointing results. Universal's disturbing
remake of Stephen King's "Firestarter" fizzled with $3.8 million
from 2,412 screens while landing simultaneously on Peacock; and
the Roadside Attractions faith-based comedy "Family Camp"
generated a paltry $1.4 million from 854 locations. Neither of
those films were particularly expensive to produce, meaning it
may not be nightmarish to get those films to turn a profit, but
it's certainly not the kind of coinage that studios hope to
generate when putting a new film in cinemas across the country.
"Firestarter" was dinged by negative reviews and poor
word-of-mouth. The film, about a girl with extraordinary
pyrokinetic powers, landed a 12% on Rotten Tomatoes and a "C-"
CinemaScore from moviegoers. Those weak figures suggest that the
few people who saw the film over the weekend will not be rushing
home to tell their friends to watch it in theaters. The most
shocking aspect of "Firestarter" is that "High School Musical"
heartthrob Zac Efron is officially old enough to play a dad on
the big screen. And yet that was not enough to entice audiences.
Just how bad were opening weekend ticket sales for "Firestarter"?
To put them in perspective, the original 1984 film, starring
Drew Barrymore, had a bigger start -- not adjusted for inflation
-- grossing $4.7 million from 1,356 theaters. The latest "Firestarter"
may get a boost on Peacock, the streaming service owned by
NBCUniversal, but the company did not provide streaming metrics.
David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise
Entertainment Research, believes ticket sales were flattened
because the film is already available at home.
"'Firestarter' has a lot of production pedigree; Blumhouse and
Stephen King are consistent hit-makers," says Gross. But, he
adds, "having the movie available on streaming at the same time
it's in theaters reinforces that this is not big-screen,
must-see entertainment."
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