Blade Runner 2049 was supposed to be one of the big fall box office hits this year…at least that’s what everyone, including me, thought. Was any other film that was more anticipated? But we were way off the mark. Box office estimates were originally somewhere from $55-60 million for its weekend opening. But as advance tickets sales and the numbers came in those estimates started going down and further down from the mid-40s to $35 million, and finally, $30 million.
But this weekend’s end result of $31.5 million is disastrous for the film which reportedly cost around $175 million to make. The film won’t even clear $100 million domestically and Warner Bros. can only hope that the film pulls in great box office numbers overseas, or else it’s going to be a major loss for the studio.
So what happened? Honestly, I have no idea. True, the film’s epic 164-minute length meant that the number of showings in theaters were reduced, but there have been other films with as long a running time that have done much better. Additionally, the film has gotten some stellar reviews and the studio did a great job marketing the film. But people seem cold to the film.
Yes, there have been some complaints by some filmgoers the found the film too long an dull. And perhaps, as one friend told me, that I would be surprised how many people have never seen the first Blade Runner film which might have hurt the interest for 2049. The original Blade Runner was a notorious box office flop as well when it first was released in 1982, but that film has gone on to become one of the iconic and most influential sci-fi films ever made, with some calling it perhaps the greatest sci-fi film ever made. It’s gone on to be released in theaters and on DVD in different “director versions” over the decades as well as becoming one of the best selling DVDs ever.
Perhaps that could be one of the main reasons for the box office letdown in that Blade Runner has been copied by so many films since it was released that now even a genuine sequel to the original looks old and uninteresting. Also, I suspect that the lack of people of color also has a lot to with it. With the exception of Lennie James and Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips) , who appear literally for five minutes in thankless roles, Wood Harris who comes and goes in the blink of an eye and two black women who are on screen for a few seconds, 2049 is basically all white. We’re talking about a future 40 years from now, and the world is more white than it is now? Seriously?
As for the Idris Elba/Kate Winslet survival/romance drama The Mountain Between Us, the news is worse. The film only pulled $10 million this weekend, making it a non-starter that’s going to be pulled from theaters soon. But this was an iffy project is the first place. Fox obviously had doubts about the film since they pulled all press screenings for the film at the Toronto Film Festival last month at the last moment, obviously not wanting any advance reviews to come out theatrically. And spoiler alert, yes they do “do it” in the film, confirming your worst fears.
But also this goes back to some I said months ago that though he works a lot, is clearly very talented and the ladies love him, Elba has yet to prove that he kind of box office powerhouse. Yes, you can blame the poor choices of projects he gets involved with but he needs to catch fire with something soon.
Meanwhile, It just keeps chugging along with $603 million worldwide so far. Kingsman: The Golden Circle has made just under $80 million in the U.S. and $220 million worldwide and Tom Cruise’s American Made, though it is a box office under-performer domestically, it has as grossed $100 million worldwide.
Full list:
1) Blade Runner 2049 WB $31,525,000
2) The Mountain Between Us Fox $10,100,000
3) It WB (NL) $9,655,000 Total: $304,933,478 $35 5
4) My Little Pony: The Movie LGF $8,800,000
5) Kingsman: The Golden Circle Fox $8,100,000 Total: $79,964,425
6) American Made Uni. $8,073,000 Total:$30,444,960
7) The LEGO Ninjago Movie WB $6,750,000 Total: $43,823,663
8) Victoria and Abdul Focus $4,142,000 Total: $5,958,394
9) Flatliners Sony $3,800,000 Total: $12,329,602
10) Battle of the Sexes FoxS $2,400,000 Total: $7,677,575
11) American Assassin LGF $1,375,000 Total: $34,436,277
12) The Stray Purd. $550,000 – 640 – $859 $550,000
