It may only be the middle of April, but Hollywood has already begun spring-cleaning. Four new arrivals –Hellboy, Little, After and Missing Link-did little to breathe life into the North America box office, allowing Warner’s Shazam! to remain at number one for a second straight week.
The quartet of unappealing new product helped push the box office down 26% in comparison to last weekend and down 23% from one year ago at this time. Business is only expected to get worse over the next two weekends as studios continue to lay low –and ticket buyers keep their money in their wallets- in anticipation of the April 26th global launch of Avengers: Endgame.
After a better than expected start last weekend, Shazam! showed some box office stamina, dropping only 53% in its second round on 4,306 venues. With an estimated $25.1 million earned in ticket sales this weekend, the DC superhero flick has pocketed a decent $95 million so far. Shazam! is looking to power its way to a $140-150 million domestic gross prior to the return of The Avengers. Overseas, Shazam! has pulled in $164 million.
Landing in second place this weekend was the Universal comedy Little, which started off its box office run with an estimated $15.5 million from 2,667 theaters. A variation on the 1988 Tom Hanks film Big, Little found smaller support from the critics than it did the public. The $20 million production scored a terrible 13% on Rotten Tomatoes and a moderate 49/100 on Metacritic while ticket buyers polled on CinemaScore gave the PG-13 comedy a “B+.”
Landing in third place with a massive thud was Lionsgate’s $50 million R-rated reboot of Hellboy. The third –and most likely, final – big screen adventure of the cult comic book superhero debuted on 3,303 screens this weekend where it found a hellish $12 million, far below the $23.1 million scored by the 2004 Hellboy and the $34 million Hellboy II started with in the summer of 2008.
Shape of Water’s Guillermo del Toro directed the first two cinematic Hellboy adventures while Neil Marshall (Doomsday, Game of Thrones) helmed the new take.
Reviewers slammed the new Hellboy, giving it a 15% approval on Rotten Tomatoes and a 30/100 on Metacritic. They weren’t alone in their disdain for the new flick. Those that did venture out to see the new film branded it with a damning “C” grade on CinemaScore.
Paramount’s Pet Sematary found its box office fortunes neutered in its second round on 3,585 screens. The second cinematic take on the classic Stephen King novel fell 59% this weekend to earn an anemic $10 million, which was good enough for fourth place. The ten-day total for Sematary stands at $41.1 million, with a final North America gross between $55-60 million possible. The original Pet Sematary finished its North America run with $57 million, which would translate to roughly $130 million in today’s dollars.
Rounding out the top five was Disney’s fast-fading dud Dumbo with an estimated $9.2 million from 3,706 screens. Down 56% in its third week, Dumbo has brought in $90 million so far and should finish its domestic run close to the $110 million mark, far below the film’s $170 million price tag. Overseas, the Tim Burton production has flown to $177 million.
- Captain Marvel (Disney) $8.6 million (-31%); $386.5 million
- Us (Universal) $6.9 million (-50%); $163.5 million
- After (Aviron) $6.2 million
Reviews were downright awful for the latest teen flick to invade multiplexes. It is also the second straight bomb for indie studio Aviron following this past winter’s Serenity. After scored a horrid 13% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 28/100 on Metacritic. Ticket buyers, however, were slightly kinder. They gave After a “B” on CinemaScore.
- Missing Link (United Artists) $5.8 million
Unlike the other films released this weekend, Laika Studios’ latest animated feature received solid support from critics. The animated comedy featuring the voice talents of Hugh Jackman, Zoe Saldana and Zack Galifianakis scored an 88% approval on Rotten Tomatoes and a 68/100 on Metacritic (ticket buyers gave the film a “B+” on CinemaScore). So, what prevented the film from having a better opening? The main culprits appear to be the film’s lousy marketing campaign and the release date.
- The Best Of Enemies (STX) $2 million (-55%); $8.1 million
The upcoming week sees the arrival of Fox’s Breakthrough and Disney’s documentary Penguins on Wednesday and Warner’s The Curse of La Llorona on Friday. Come Easter Sunday, Warner should have the top two films in the country with La Llorona landing in first followed by the third week of Shazam!
