“Him,” a sports thriller about a football player training to be the greatest of all time, won’t be the box office G.O.A.T. after all.
The film opened slightly behind expectations with $13.5 million from 3,168 North American venues. Earlier in the weekend, “Him” seemed on track to debut to $15 million. Either way those ticket sales weren’t enough to enough to dethrone last weekend’s champ “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle.” After a close race for No. 1, the anime smash from Sony-owned Crunchyroll easily ruled again at the domestic box office with $17.3 million in its second frame. “Him” landed in second place.
Meanwhile this weekend’s other new release, “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey,” cratered in sixth place with $3.2 million from 3,330 venues. The star power of Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell couldn’t overcompensate for terrible reviews (aa 38% Rotten Tomatoes average) and bad buzz (a “B-” grade on CinemaScore exit polls), meaning “a big bold beautiful journey” likely won’t describe the film’s box office run.
“Him” also opened at the international box office, where it bombed with $400,000 from 25 markets. That brings the film’s global tally to $13.86 million. “Him” cost $27 million and won’t require a ton to turn a theatrical profit. That’s the good news. The bad is that critics and audiences rejected the film (it was saddled with a 28% Rotten Tomatoes average and “C-” grade on CinemaScore), which will hurt word-of-mouth during its big screen run. Produced by Jordan Peele and directed by Justin Tipping, the psychological thriller follows an aging quarterback (Marlon Wayans) who trains a rising football star (Tyriq Withers) to some chilling consequences.
“Producer Jordan Peele, whose name is featured throughout the campaign, is primarily responsible for the success, but the movie is not being received well,” says analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. “A CinemaScore of ‘C’ or ‘C+’ is common for a horror film; a ‘C-‘ indicates some dissatisfaction.”
“A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” opened behind already soft expectations of $8 million to $10 million. “After Yang” filmmaker Kogonada directed from a script by “The Menu” screenwriter Seth Reiss. The R-rated film, which follows to single strangers who meet at a wedding and get to relive important moments from their respective pasts, carries a $45 million price tag.
“That’s a big number to recoup,” says Gross, considering that “reviews are not good and the audience score is lukewarm.”
More to come…