Another over-familiar “family” film title, this one holiday flavored and starring Johnny Depp, takes over the top spot at the box office.
Capt. Jack “Ebenezer” is humbugging his way to an opening a bit better than last weekend’s “The Cat in the Hat” reboot. “Cat” cleared $20 — barely. Now deadline.com is taking the $1.5 million the umpteenth version of “A Christmas Carol” managed Thursday and the $5-6 it managed Friday and projecting something in the mid $20s for the whole weekend.
That’s not epic, but considering Depp’s quote isn’t what it once was and the budget was in the $40 million range, it’ll do. With tickets averaging over $16 nationwide — over $25 in the Big Cities (JAYZUS), that’s not a lot of tickets sold, less than two million.
The reviews aren’t exactly drumming up enthusiasm.
Maybe everybody is waiting to catch it on Tuesday night — bargain night at many of the nation’s cinemas — like me? Sure, it’ll stream long before Christmas rolls in. We’ll wait for that!
The newest “Cat in the Hat” is pulling in enough punters to clear $12 million on its second outing, good enough for second place.
“Godzilla Minus Zero” opened at over $30 million last weekend, but is falling off a cliff on its second weekend. Friday’s numbers were abysmal, and $8-10 million seems like where this is headed, a 66-70 percent plunge.
Perhaps filmgoers are um, tired of remakes, reboots and re-imaginings? Just a thought.
The Indian release “Ramayana: Rise of a Legend,” is in the top five (fourth) with a $5 million, earning on a pace with “Cat in the Hat,” which opened the same weekend.
The docu-drama “You Can See Everything” is still luring in the curious to see Elizabeth Holmes flirt with her filmmaker/interviewer, adding another $4.5 million or so to its running total, good enough for fifth place. It’s in the $80s, and may fall just shy of $100 million by the time it finishes its run.
Jim Caviezel’s “Ghost Soldier” may give it a run for fifth place if it clears $4.9 million on its second weekend. Middling reviews don’t scare off the “Sound of Freedom” faithful that Mel Gibson’s Jesus clings to.
But hot on his heels is “How to Rob a Bank,” an all-star (ish) Nicholas Hoult, Zoe Kravitz, Pete Davidson, Christian Slater and John C. Reilly thriller, also tracking towards $4.7 million. Fifth, sixth of seventh, tepid reviews thus far mar this one, too.
The revolutionary (American Revolution) and melodramatic musical “Drummer Boy” should stick around the lower reaches of the Top Ten, as might the ambitious stop motion animation “Wildwood” and the comic book villain origin story “Clayface.”
“Wild Horse Nine,” Martin McDonagh’s latest, amused me and could also be on track to remain in the top ten for one more week. Maybe.
“Street Fighter” is done, at last. “Wicker” is fading and “Jimmy” never got any traction. Not enough star power or directorial style to put over a Jimmy Stewart bio-pic. But the much smaller AARP audience is showing up for that one.
Check back in as I will be updating this post as the weekend’s numbers become clearer later Sat. and Sunday.
