Another week, another box office tally, and this time, another high-dollar, star-studded film has once again fallen short of its initial estimates. Tron: Ares‘s premiere after much advertising and campaigning by Disney for the attempted franchise revival and promotion of Nine Inch Nails’ first film soundtrack under the band’s name had originally positioned the film to rank in a hopeful estimate of $50 million. The premiere instead fell short on the lower end with $33.5 million. Critics walked away with mixed reviews of the film, but audiences are leaning more positively. The film could hopefully see a strong sophomore outing to maintain momentum, although it is unlikely after the current trend of recent box office tentpoles fumbling. Tron: Ares stars Jared Leto as an eponymous AI program set loose into the real world from ‘The Grid’ with the heroine Kim Eve played by Gretta Lee, the new CEO of ENCOM, and Evan Peters reprising his role as Julian Dillinger, the franchise’s iconic villain.
In second came Channing Tatum’s Roofman, based on the true story about an actual man who broke into McDonald’s by punching holes into the roof, escaped prison, and then lived in the attic of a Toys R Us for six months before being caught. The film is billed as a romantic comedy with hopes to appeal to a wider female audience. This doesn’t seem to have paid off, as the initial $8 million to $10 million estimate fell on the lower end with the film raking in only enough to meet the bottom projection, though it did snag second for its opening week. Roofman was made on a modest $19 million budget. And with positive reviews from critics and audiences, it’s projected to have a nice stroll around the box office back to black for its profitability.
Third place went to the first of the surprising box office fall fumbles with One Battle After Another starring Leonardo DiCaprio, hanging on to the top five with $6.67 million in its third week, and continues a slow crawl back from red in its ledgers. Fourth went to the family-friendly Gabby’s Dollhouse in its third week as well, with $3.35 million.
Rounding out the top five is Soul On Fire, a spiritual film that almost completely swept the Midwest domestic box office, bringing in $3 million for its premiere.
Sixth place went to The Conjuring: Last Rites. A holdover from the summer box office with $2.93 million in its sixth week. While seventh place went to Demon Slayer Infinity Castle with $2.25 million, also a holdover from the end of summer in its fifth week.
Falling all the way down into eighth is A24’s Oscar frontrunner, The Smashing Machine, which didn’t get any love from word of mouth for its sophomore outing, as audiences just do not vibe with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson in a serious acting role. Bringing in only $1.79 million, the film is still projected to be an Oscar contender after positive reviews from critics and film festivals that hosted it prior to its public premiere.
Another box office bomb that has hung on to the top ten due to slower audience traffic to new films is The Strangers: Chapter 2, with $1.55 million in its third week. The film, as a sequel, still managed to beat back Good Boy into tenth. The indie horror fetched $1.36 million in its sophomore outing and continues to delight the audience that has seen it.
Despite also toting a star-studded headlining cast, the Hollywood adaptation of Broadway’s musical The Kiss of the Spider Woman, starring Jennifer Lopez, Diego Luna and Tonatiuh, also bucking for Oscar recognition, fell just shy of breaking into the top ten with only a $1 million premiere.
The box office saw positive activity for two more indie films that, simply due to the scale of their releases, still managed to make a splash with If I Had Legs I’d Kick You from A24 with $89,000 from an incredibly limited release in only four theaters nationwide. This was followed by Harris Dickerson’s directorial debut, Urcin, which was shown in only three theaters and was released internationally from an entirely new studio. The film made $42,000 for its premiere after gracing a handful of film festivals.
The weekend box office numbers are as follows:
1. Tron: Ares Weekend $33.5M Total $33.5M Week 1
2. Roofman Weekend $8M Total $8M Week 1
3. One Battle After Another Weekend $6.67M $54.5M Week 3
4. Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie Weekend $3.35M Total $26.43M Week 3
5. Soul on Fire Weekend $3M Total $3M Week 1
6. The Conjuring: Last Rites Weekend $2.93M Total $172.44M Week 6
7. Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Infinity Castle Weekend $2.25M Total $128.63M Week 5
8. The Smashing Machine Weekend $1.79M Total $9.8M Week 2
9. The Strangers: Chapter 2 Weekend $1.55M Total $13.49M Week 3
10. Good Boy Weekend $1.36M Total $4.86M Week 2
Notable Additions
12. Kiss of the Spider Woman Weekend $1M Total $1M Week 1
22. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You Weekend $89K Total $89K Week 1
25. Urchin Weekend $42K Total $42K Week 1
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