While movies that are part of franchises and established brands have dominated the box office this year, as they have in most recent years, there's no guarantee that having a familiar title is a road to box office success. Several sequels and reboots have had a tough time in 2019 and one of those has been Charlie's Angels.
The television series from the late 1970 and early 80s saw a pair of movies in the early 2000s and Elizabeth Banks directed and co-starred in a new version this year. I point out the movie's existence here because, based on the receipts, it's possible you weren't actually aware the movie was out. The film has struggled at the box office since day one, which has to have been frustrating for the cast and crew.
However, there are apparently a few bright spots. Elizabeth Banks hit Twitter over the weekend to thank the people in her home town for selling out a pair of screenings on Saturday night.
The people of Pittsfield, Massachusetts apparently came through for Elizabeth Banks, as a fair number of people turned out to see her movie. Whether this was strictly a case of hometown pride, or evidence that there is still an audience for the movie, is unclear, but at this point it seems likely that all involved will take whatever they can get.
Charlie's Angels debuted at the domestic box office in a disappointing third place, behind the debuting Ford v. Ferrari and the second weekend of Roland Emmerich's Midway. The film barely beat out the Nickelodeon family comedy Playing with Fire for that third spot.
After two weeks, Charlie's Angels has only grossed a little over $40 million worldwide, which, for a movie with a reported budget of nearly $50 million, is not good news.
While this instance in a single town of a movie selling out a couple screenings is no proof of any sort of wider movement that the film is now getting attention, it's still pretty impressive. After all, there was a pretty big movie hitting theaters this past weekend, so if Charlie's Angels can still fill a couple theaters when Frozen II is finally out, that's something.
While the new Charlie's Angels was far from a perfect film, I thought it was a perfectly enjoyable little action story with some fun characters that had solid chemistry. While the audience might not have been there at the theater, it feels like it might be the sort of movie that curious people will pick up streaming or rent digitally. Perhaps then the movie will find its audience.
Still, unless it finds that audience in a big way on Blu-ray, it seems unlikely this iteration of the Angels will become the franchise that was almost certainly hoped for. The lack of success also means it will probably be a long time before somebody takes a chance on making another Charlie's Angels movie.
