Tron: Did Ares succeed in relaunching the US box office?

Beyond Jared Leto in the grid, Channing Tatum has planted himself as Roofman, but the real big guy of the week is for Jennifer Lopez.

Taylor Swift can’t save the US box office every weekend…

Hollywood was hoping for a boost with the release of the blockbuster Tron: Ares (at Disney) and feel good Roofman (Paramount/Miramax). But no success in sight: if the third opus of the great science fiction saga still managed $34 million in revenue in 4,000 North American theaters, to take the lead in the US box office without batting an eyelid, Tron: Ares disappoints and starts below forecasts (which were hoping for up to 45 million). He does worse than Tron: Legacy ($44 million for its first weekend in 2010) and the reviews being very mixed, it should have difficulty performing over time. Hard for Disney, which invested nearly 200 million dollars in the project, did a big promotion at San Diego Comic-Con and a Nine Inch Nails concert at the world premiere… Tron: Ares will have difficulty being the expected autumn phenomenon and recouping its costs.

Same observation for Channing Tatum. Her Roofman launches at 8 million dollars, in 3,300 theaters, below expectations.

Directed by Derek Cianfrance, the film fortunately only cost $19 million, a low-risk operation for Paramount and Miramax. Less radical than the previous Cianfrance (Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond the Pines), the film is intended to be a retro romcom, 90’s at heart. But the marketing was obviously not very successful and the title alone raised eyebrows among some industry specialists…

On the podium, One battle after another (Warner Bros.), despite the film’s enormous critical buzz, still fell by 39% in the third week, with $6.7 million over the weekend. Its US total now stands at $55 million. A very good score for Paul Thomas Anderson… His very record! Yes but here it is, One Battle after another was expensive: a production budget exceeding $130 million (and $70 million in marketing). To hope for a balance in theaters, we would have to come close to $300 million in overall revenue. This won’t happen. Far from it: at present, the film is not even half of this total yet.

Real disappointments… But the real urchins of the weekend are still elsewhere!

Starting with Jennifer Lopez, starring at Kiss of the Spiderwoman by Bill Condon, adaptation of the Broadway musical distributed by Roadside Attractions and LD Entertainment. Released on 1,330 screens, the film only grossed $850,000, or a paltry average of $700 per theater. A spectacular underperformance.

Another disaster: Dwayne Johnson and The Smashing Machine. Benny Safdie’s drama, although sold as an Oscar candidate and produced by A24, collapsed by 72% in its second week. After an already very sluggish opening at $5.9 million, the film only collected… 1.7 million this weekend, and a worldwide total which currently barely passes 10 million. With a budget of 50 million, the highest ever invested by A24, it is a small industrial disaster.