Based on Ransom Rigg’s YA bestseller, Miss Peregrine’s, with its cast of strange magic-imbued youngsters, is right in director Tim Burton’s uber-quirky wheelhouse. The critics were mixed, but mostly positive, giving the film a 64% positive rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, and opening weekend audiences gave the movie an OK “B+” CinemaScore, though the 55% of the crowd that was under 25 gave the film a better “A-“ rating. The opening weekend crowd skewed female (59%), and younger with just 45% over 25. To do well here in North America, Miss Peregrine’s will have to continue to attract young viewers.
Overseas Miss Peregrine’s opened in 59 overseas markets and earned $36.5 million. With a production cost of $110 million, Burton’s film will have to continue to do very well overseas just to break even, since even reaching $100 million domestically appears to be a real stretch, even if the film posts a strong hold next weekend. Miss Peregrine’s is Burton’s first big budget film since the ill-fated Dark Shadows in 2012, and the success or failure of Miss Peregrine’s at the box office could determine if Burton will get to helm expensive projects in the future.
But Miss Peregrine’s prospects could be better than those of Peter Berg’s Deepwater Horizon, which also cost $110 million to produce, but opened with $20.6 million. Deepwater Horizon currently has an excellent 82% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and opening weekend audiences, which were evenly split between the genders, and very much on the older side (67% over 35), gave the film a solid “A-“ CinemaScore. Lionsgate is hoping that Deepwater Horizon will have the kind of legs that the Tom Hanks-starring Sully appears to be having, and with its modest opening future weekend drops for the film should be limited as well. Still, $110-120 million (the film’s actual cost was near $160 million, but tax rebates brought it down to the $110-120 million range) is a lot to spend on an “adult drama” that is not based on a popular novel or property, and which might not resonate overseas where the explosion of an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico was not such an important event. The fact that Deepwater Horizon posted the lowest opening total ever for a big budget film starring Mark Wahlberg further clouds its prospects.
Overseas Deepwater Horizon debuted in 52 markets and earned just $12.4 million, though only 3 of the territories in which it opened are consider “major markets,” so it is too early to pass judgment on the film’s overseas prospects.
Antoine Fuqua’s remake of The Magnificent Seven that stars Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt slipped to #3 as it dropped 55% in its second weekend, earning $15.7 million to bring its domestic total to $61.6 million. Overseas the film has earned $46. 5 million so far for a worldwide total of $108.1 million. The question is, can the $90 million production earn that much again and make it into the black, or will it become yet another example of a failure to revive the western genre.
Warner Bros. animated Storks posted a solid hold, dropping just 35.2% as it earned $13.8 million to bring its domestic total to $38.8 million. Storks’ solid second weekend performance comes in spite of direct competition from Miss Peregrine’s. Look for Storks to hang around for some time, but its weak start has definitely limited the prospects of this original property.
The fifth spot went to Clint Eastwood’s Sully, which dropped just 38% in its fourth weekend as it earned $8.4 million and brought its domestic to $105.4 million. Sully, which stars Tom Hanks, is the fifth Eastwood film to pass the $100 million mark. The $60 million production has already earned $151.7 million worldwide, and still has some domestic prospects, especially if the film receives some Oscar nominations.
Relativity Media’s ensemble comedy Masterminds, which was supposed to have been released in August of 2015 (but was delayed by the studio’s bankruptcy), open feebly with just $6.6 million. In spite of an excellent cast (Zack Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, Kristen Wiig, and a bunch of SNL stars) and a wacky storyline that is based on a real 1997 robbery in North Carolina, Masterminds could only register a 38% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes and appears doomed.
Disney’s Queen of Katwe, the inspirational story of young girl from the slums of Kampala, who becomes a chess champion, expanded to 1,242 theaters, but, in spite of a superb 91% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the film only earned $2.6 million. This well-directed movie (by Mira Nair) certainly deserves a better fate, and perhaps word of mouth (and an Oscar nod or two) will help this $15 million production gain some recognition.
Dropping out of the top ten this week was David Ayers’ Suicide Squad, which spent its first eight weeks of release ensconced in the top tier, and now seems destined to finish in the $325 million range domestically, and Blair Witch, which exited after two weekends and now looks to be the worst performing of all three films in the found footage horror film franchise (and it’s not even necessary to adjust for inflation).
Next weekend three more films open nationwide including Nate Parker’s saga of the Nat Turner rebellion, The Birth of a Nation, the kid-targeting comedy Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life, and the hugely-hyped adult drama The Girl on the Train, which Universal hopes will be able to recapture the box office magic of David Fincher’s Gone Girl that earned $167.8 million domestically (and $370 million worldwide) back in 2014.