Steven Spielberg's rave-reviewed remake of "West Side Story" arrived to an estimated $10.5 million in North American ticket sales, a feeble result -- even by pandemic standards -- that added to alarm in Hollywood about the theatrical viability of films that are not visual effects-driven fantasy spectacles or new chapters in ongoing franchises.
But there was also a camp that cautioned against making any speedy assessments. Musicals often get off to a slow start, even more so when they are released in mid-December. Fueled by positive word-of-mouth and awards attention, they can turn into little engines that could. Golden Globe nominations were announced Monday.
"The Greatest Showman," for instance, collected $8.8 million over its first three days in domestic theaters in December 2017 and was insta-written off as a box office embarrassment. Then the soundtrack caught fire among young women. "The Greatest Showman," which cost $84 million to make, finished its six-month run in theaters with $437 million in worldwide ticket sales.
In a results email Sunday, Disney, which released "West Side Story" on its 20th Century Studios label, noted that ticket buyers gave the film an A grade in CinemaScore exit polls. Indicators of audience sentiment "all bode well for the long run ahead through the upcoming holiday season," the company said.
In release in 37 international markets, including some countries where the omicron variant has prompted governments to tighten safeguards, "West Side Story" took in $4.4 million. The film's global total so far, $14.9 million, missed Disney's pre-release hope of $25 million by roughly 40%.
"West Side Story," based on the 1957 Broadway musical, cost an estimated $100 million to remake, not including tens of millions of dollars in marketing costs. Tony Kushner adapted the screenplay.
In the United States and Canada, turnout for "West Side Story" was largest among ticket buyers over the age of 55. About 82% of the national audience came before 8 p.m., according to EntTelligence, a film research firm.
"This is a story about an interracial romance," David Gross, who runs the film consultancy Franchise Entertainment Research, said Sunday. "Once upon a time, that was rare and remarkable. Not anymore. For moviegoers, context may have caught up with this film, however well made it is." (The filmmaking team and many critics would counter that "West Side Story" also tackles social issues, notably intolerance, that are as timely as ever. Reviewing the film for The New York Times, A.O. Scott said Spielberg's take on the material "reaffirms its indelible appeal while making it feel bold, surprising and new.")
Among A-list filmmakers, Spielberg is one of the last streaming holdouts. Although his company, Amblin, signed a multiyear deal in June to make feature films for Netflix, Spielberg has pushed for his directorial projects to remain theatrical exclusives. At the New York premiere of "West Side Story," he thanked Disney executives for giving his film an old-fashioned theatrical rollout, despite the pandemic, rather than rerouting it to a streaming service, as the company had notably done with "Hamilton." (On Thursday, Disney removed a Ben Affleck thriller, "Deep Water," from its January theatrical release schedule; the movie is expected to stream on Amazon Prime or Hulu instead.)
Second place for the weekend went to Disney's animated "Encanto," which held strongly in its third week, dropping only 27% from the previous weekend. It grossed $9.6 from Friday to Sunday, bringing its cumulative total to $71.3 million domestically and $80.5 million internationally.
The weekend's only other new wide release -- STX Films' college football drama "National Champions" -- went largely unnoticed, pulling in $300,000 in 1,197 theaters.