The new releases this weekend, Kraven The Hunter and The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim; both managed to fall well below their intended tracking numbers at the box office.
Kraven The Hunter Fails To Hit The Mark
The first-place film as per Box Office Mojo this week was Moana 2 with $26 million. The second-place film was Wicked with $22 million.
Kraven The Hunter debuted to $11 million in third place. Which is quite different from the $40 million to $55 million that the movie was tracking for last Monday. There are a few factors that lead to this huge discrepancy. For one, the movie faced both Gladiator II and The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim in terms of its demographics. While Kraven The Hunter outperformed those films, it’s likely that had the movie had less competition in that demographic, it would’ve performed better.
Then there are reviews. As last week unfolded, we saw more reviews come in for Kraven The Hunter, and many of them painted a less-than-flattering picture of the film.
There’s also the fact that Sony made it clear that (for now at least) this is the end of the Sony Spider-Man Universe of films (i.e. Madame Web, Morbius). So undoubtedly, audiences may have been hoping to see what this film sets up. They were likely turned off knowing that this is the end of the line of these movies; again, for now at least.
War of the Rohirrim Stumbles As The Prequel Falls Short At The Box Office
In the fourth place spot was Gladiator II which took in $7.8 million this past weekend.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim was (as I predicted) in the fifth-place spot. The movie was tracking for an $8 million to $12 million opening weekend but only managed to make $4.6 million. The movie did make an impressive amount per it’s theatre count. Which admittingly was considerably less than any other movie in the top five this week. Unlike Kraven The Hunter, there’s no real clear indicator why this failed; but I think the most telling is that the movie has a C CinemaScore; which tells me the movie just never landed with audiences. Perhaps it was the anime art style, or the fact that it’s a prequel. Either way, audiences were indifferent to the film.
It’s easy for pundits and studios to blame the bad performance on people participating in Christmas activities; but movies like Spider-Man: No Way Home, Avatar: The Way of Water, Jumanji: The Next Level, and Wonka have all succeeded in the mid-Dec box office.
Next Weekend’s Predictions
Next week sees the release of Sonic The Hedgehog 3 and Mufasa: The Lion King.
This could be a close one. Sonic The Hedgehog 3 is tracking for a $65 million to $85 million opening. Whereas Mufasa: The Lion King is tracking for a $55 million to $75 million opening.
This box office will be close but I think the goodwill that Sega has built over the past two movies, compared to the sour taste left in many audiences mouths over the CGI/Live Action Lion King remake will help Sonic The Hedgehog 3 pull ahead. I’m estimating $70 million for Sonic 3 and $50 million for Mufasa. Which will put the movies in first and second place respectively.
It’s worth noting that Mufasa did well overseas, and will likely be a bigger hit in international markets than it will domestically.
As always, we’ll find out next week!
For more on Movies, make sure to check back to That Hashtag Show.
