Disney’s reboot Tron: Ares is in trouble at the domestic box office, where it took in $14.3 million Friday for a scaled-back estimated opening of $35 million to $37 million. While it will still win the weekend, it’s coming in well below expectations.
Friday’s gross includes $4.8 million in previews from both Thursday showings and early access screenings on Wednesday.
The big-budget event pic had been tracking to open to $40 million to $45 million (at one point, $50 million was even a possibility) against a hefty net production budget of $180 million before marketing. The threequel opens 15 years after the Tron: Legacy debuted in theaters to $44 million, and was shepherded by former Disney exec Sean Bailey when serving as head of the Disney’s live-action studio. It remains to be seen whether audience scores can make up for decidedly mixed reviews. Its current critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes is 57 percent, while the audience ranking is much better at 86 percent)
Norwegian Disney vet Joachim Rønning directs the third film in the sci-fi franchise, which stars Jared Leto as the eponymous program, Ares, Greta Lee as Eve Kim, CEO of ENCOM, the tech corporation at the center of the series since the start, and Evan Peters as baddie Julian Dillinger. The pic’s net production budget is at least $180 million.
The other new major studio offering this weekend is Miramax and Paramount’s romantic crime-caper comedy Roofman, starring Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst. Derek Cianfrance directed the pic, which co-stars LaKeith Stanfield, Juno Temple and Peter Dinklage.
Roofman earned $3.3 million on Friday, including $1 million in previews, and is looking to come in on the low end of expectations with a modest $8 million opening (tracking had it at $8 million to $10 million). Miramax produced and financed the modestly budgeted $19 million film, with Paramount picking up rights for $9 million, according to insiders. Put another way, no one is looking at huge losses. It had hoped to serve as counter-programming for females not interested in the male-skewing Tron installment, and boasts strong reviews. It’s Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score is presently 84 percent, while the audience score is 88 percent. So far, however, more males than females are showing up to see the film, though that could change on Saturday and Sunday.
Both Tron and Roofman received a B+ from polling service CinemaScore.
Based on a true story, Roofman follows the adventures of an Army veteran and struggling father who turns to robbing McDonald’s restaurants by cutting holes in their roofs, earning him the nickname Roofman. After escaping prison, he secretly lives inside a Toys “R” Us for six months, surviving undetected while planning his next move, but his double life begins to unravel when he falls in love.
Another new nationwide offering is Soul of Fire, from Sony’s faith-based Affirm label. The movie earned $1.3 million Friday, including $575,000 in previews, for an estimated $3 million opening. It earned an A CinemaScore, and is doing best in America’s heartland and the south.
At the specialty box office, Amazon MGM Studios is going the platform route and opening Luca Guadagnino‘s psychological thriller After the Hunt, starring Julia Roberts, in 17 theaters. The strategy is paying off, with the film expected to post the best location average of the weekend, or north of $30,000.
The awards contender, which also stars Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny, made the rounds at the fall film festivals and is about a sexual assault accusation that tears apart Yale’s philosophy department.
The score for After the Hunt is from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who are on double duty, having also done the score for Tron: Ares (in the latter they are credited by their band’s name, Nine Inch Nails).
Among holdovers, Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is looking at third place finish with a weekend gross of $6.8 million to $7 million, a drop of around 40 percent. Many box office pundits are stumped that the high-profile awards contender isn’t holding in stronger after earning a coveted A+ CinemaScore, but the film’s fate is far from being decided (it is only in its third outing).
Dwayne Johnson-starrer The Smashing Machine appears to be collapsing in its second weekend after getting snubbed by audiences and despite solid reviews. The A24 pic could drop nearly 70 percent to $1.8 million for a paltry 10-day domestic total of $9.8 million and an eighth-place finish. The movie, which kicked off its awards campaign with a splashy world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, marks Johnson’s first foray into Oscar territory. The Benny Safdie-directed pic cost $50 million to produce before marketing, a high price-tag for an indie pic.
Numbers will be updated Sunday morning.
October 11, 9:30 a.m.: Updated with revised estimates.
This story was originally published Oct. 10 at 9:59 a.m.