LOS ANGELES – Neither a hyper-intelligent robot nor Vince Vaughn could save the box office this weekend, which is down 38.5 per cent from the same weekend last year, according to Sunday estimates from box office firm Rentrak.
While Neill Blomkamp’s Chappie might have taken the No. 1 spot in its 3,201 theatre debut, its modest $13.3 million gross is hardly anything to celebrate. It’s a career low for Blomkamp, whose previous films Elysium and District 9 debuted at $29.8 and $37.4 million, respectively.
The $49 million film is about a police robot (voiced by Sharlto Copley) that learns how to think and feel.
The Vince Vaughn comedy Unfinished Business fared even worse, opening at No. 10 to a dismal $4.8 million. The $35 million film about a chaotic European business trip also stars Dave Franco and Tom Wilkinson.
In its second weekend in theatres, Will Smith’s Focus fell an estimated 46 per cent to take second place with $10 million, bringing its domestic total to $34.6 million.
One bright spot was the retiree comedy The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which opened in third place with a strong $8.6 million from 1,573 locations.
The first film was somewhat of a sleeper hit in 2012, grossing $46.4 million domestically on a budget of $10 million.
Holdovers Kingsman: The Secret Service and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water rounded out the top five with $8.3 million and $7 million, respectively.
Comments