Although Disney's fantasy sequel Maleficent: Mistress of Evil claimed the top spot at the box office last weekend, it fell below expectations.
Initially projected to make close to $45 million domestically, the movie instead opened to $36 million in domestic ticket sales Friday through Sunday. It brought in an additional $117 million overseas, according to the studio. These figures did relatively little to offset the movie's hefty price tag, however: It cost roughly $185 million to produce and at least $100 million to market worldwide.
The opening-weekend misfire calls into question the star power of Jolie and the risky decision of Disney to release a sequel this long after the first movie.
It currently holds a 41% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
"It's not as strong as we hoped domestically, but it's a good start for October and we have a great window leading into Halloween," said Cathleen Taff, Disney's president of theatrical distribution. "Most encouraging is the fact that audiences seem to be responding very positively."
The A CinemaScore -- in contrast to the mixed critical reviews -- suggests that the film could have a longer life at the box office.
It was a different sequel that had this weekend's most applause-worthy start.
Zombieland 2: Double Tap, from Columbia Pictures, opened to $26.7 million in domestic ticket sales, coming in ahead of the studio's projection ($23 million) and the original Zombieland, which sold about $24.7 million in tickets during its opening weekend in 2009. The sequel cost $42 million to make.
The original movies's zombie-slaying stars -- Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg and Abigail Breslin -- return in the sequel to fight for survival in a postapocalyptic world alongside a handful of newcomers.
The movie landed in third place overall, behind Warner Bros.' Joker, which has been in theaters since the beginning of the month and sold $29.2 million in tickets this weekend. Worldwide, it's earned $737.5 million and has already surpassed the lifetime grosses of Justice League and Suicide Squad.
Now, the big question is whether Joker, the R-rated film, will make it to $1 billion, but with a $55 million production budget, it's already a massive hit for the studio and will likely become director Todd Phillips' highest-grossing film too.
"It's already in territory that nobody thought it would get to. It's achieved a box office that is above the wildest expectations of the studio and analysts," said Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore's senior media analyst. "Even if the box office stopped right now it's an absolute, unqualified success."
"Three films earning over $25 million, that doesn't happen very often," Dergarabedian said, although the weekend is down from last year when Halloween opened to more than $76 million.
In notable landmarks, Hustlers crossed $100 million domestically last weekend. It's the second STX film to do so this year after The Upside.
"It was a great weekend for sequels and great weekend for indie movies," Dergarabedian said. "But we're still struggling to get ahead of last year. We're racing to the finish line here. We've only got 11 weekends left to go."
The year is still down 5% from last year.
Fourth place at this weekend's box office went to The Addams Family, an animated family movie based on the macabre comics. It brought in around $16 million according to Comscore, which compiles box office data. In fifth place was Paramount's Will Smith vehicle Gemini Man, also in its second weekend, which sold an additional $8.5 million in tickets.
However, it was a particularly strong weekend for specialty films.
In limited release, Fox Searchlight opened Taika Waititi's Holocaust comedy Jojo Rabbit in five locations to $350,000 for an impressive per-screen average of $70,000, one of the best specialty box office openings of the year. It earned a 77% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. A24 opened The Lighthouse in eight locations to $419,764 for a strong per-screen average of $52,471. It earned a 93% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Neon's Parasite added 30 locations for a total of 33, earning $1.2 million in its second weekend for a still-impressive $37,616 per-screen average and a cumulative $1.8 million. The critically acclaimed Bong Joon Ho film enjoyed a 233% increase over its opening weekend, finishing just outside the top 10.
MovieStyle on 10/25/2019