This is a big fall season for Warner Bros. given that they have three huge live-action releases out. It turned out that Andres Muschietti's IT was a monster hit, and the jury is still out on Zack Snyder's Justice League, but now we do have the first news on Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049. The movie, budgeted at a reported $150 million, has claimed the number one spot in its opening weekend, but the three-day total definitely isn't what the studio was hoping for. Check out the full top 10 below!
As many will point out in the coming days, the performance of Blade Runner 2049 is historically fitting. It's true that the new film didn't get the same critical reaction that the Ridley Scott-directed predecessor did (in short, they weren't fans), but it also wasn't exactly a box office hit. The follow-up's opening is actually much bigger than the original's, as Blade Runner made only $6.2 million during one of the most amazing summers in blockbuster history, but there are some concerns about the sci-fi feature's profit capabilities. After all, original estimates suggested that it could pull in as much as $50 million, but obviously it's final total is well below that.
Of course, it's important to note that there are a few things working in Blade Runner 2049's favor going forward. For starters, the foreign box office has already boosted international totals by $50 million. Secondly, the film may clock in at over 160 minutes long, and operate at a slow pace, but it is actually a hit among movie-goers. Much like critics, who have made it one of the best reviewed features of the year, those seeing the Blade Runner sequel are definitely digging it, and CinemaScore says that it has received an "A-." Lastly, there isn't a tremendous deal of competition this month, which means that there is some runway for it to maintain some legs. Over the next few weeks the Denis Villeneuve feature could wind up on a path similar to Arrival, which opened in third place with a $24 million take but still brought in over $100 million before the end of its domestic run.
As for Blade Runner 2049's direct competition, there really wasn't much of any among the other new releases. The star appeal of Kate Winslet and Idris Elba wound up not really being enough of a draw to get folks into Hany Abu-Assad's The Mountain Between Us. The good news for the production is that a complete lack of visual effects kept the budget down (it was reportedly made for just $35 million), but things may not progress so well for it domestically in the next few weeks after making only $10.1 million. Like Blade Runner 2049, it also got an "A-" on CinemaScore, but critics weren't nearly as kind to the survival drama, and it currently holds a 46 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The story is almost identical for the My Little Pony movie. While reviews were slightly better (57 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), it also failed to find a captive audience during a busy weekend, and doesn't have very big numbers to showcase as a result. This sadly continues a bad trend in 2017, where good, successful animated features have be disturbingly hard to come by.
While there were a surprising number of new releases out last week, there are actually more coming out this Friday. We have three (yes, three) biopics arriving in the form of Marshall, Goodbye Christopher Robin, and Professor Marston & The Wonder Women; the Martin Campbell-directed action thriller The Foreigner; and Chris Landon's horror-comedy Happy Death Day to get you in the Halloween mood. Check back next Sunday to see how it all shakes out!
