“Snake Eyes” appears to have rolled a snake eyes for its studio. The new “G.I. Joe” installment fell decidedly short of expectations and collected $13.3 million in its first three days in North American theaters.
Reviews were poor at 42% on Rotten Tomatoes and with a B- CinemaScore from audiences. Still, that’s the best critics score in the franchise to date even if financially it opened at a fraction of its predecessors.
The film’s lead Henry Golding has also been praised for his performance and is being cited as a potential new serious contender to play the next James Bond – the actor saying recently he is open to the possibility.
“Snake Eyes” came in behind M. Night Shyamalan’s mind-bender thriller “Old” which had a $16.5 million debut – the quietest Shyamalan launch to date. The same goes for overseas where it pulled in a further $6.5 million from 23 territories.
However, with an $18 million budget, that film should slip into profit easily. That’s a much harder task for the $88 million budget “Snake Eyes” which will need to generate approximately $160 million to $175 million globally at least to break even.
Opening in 37 overseas markets (29% of its potential global market), it looks like worldwide will not save it as the film only generated a rather terrible $4 million overseas at launch.
The result is being seen as an example of the hard limit franchise filmmaking can hit. Not all franchises are equal and some simply won’t take. Now, more than ever, moviegoing masses are being far choosier about what films they will opt to leave the house to see.
It’s expected audiences will remain highly selective with what they spend their money on not just until the pandemic is fully over but also not until the economy is back in top shape which could be years away.
This can also be seen with “Space Jam: A New Legacy”. The live-action/animated sports comedy starring LeBron James collapsed in its second weekend – falling to fourth place with $9.5 million, a brutal 69% decline. A combination of poor reviews and its hybrid release is being cited as having cut into ticket sales.
“Black Widow,” now in its third weekend of release, came in third with a further $11.6 million and a North American gross of $154 million to date. Mark Wahlberg-led “Joe Bell” bombed on impact, opening in eleventh place with $707,184 from 1,094 locations. Reviews were bad too with a 37% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Source: Variety
