Overall, CinemaScore showed 71% males giving the pic an A-, the 50-set repping a third of the crowd. On CinemaScore, it’s worse: 14% under 25. Indeed, that’s what we’re seeing, with ComScore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak showing those under 25 repping 24% of all ticket buyers. We heard for some time that there was concern among those close to the film that the younger crowd wouldn’t show up.
The biggest challenge for Blade Runner 2049 is that the brand hardly means anything to those under 40. On the PR side, Blade Runner 2049 is Villeneuve’s best opening as a director, besting Arrival‘s $24M, and it’s also Ryan Gosling’s, his previous being Crazy, Stupid, Love with $19.1M. rally behind Blade Runner 2049, perhaps more people will find it. The jaw-dropping sequel is truly an awards season film, and should Warner Bros. Similar to the way that time was on the side of the original Blade Runner - it’s a groundbreaking piece of filmmaking that has far surpassed its initial commercial prospects (it bombed back in 1982, making close to $28M stateside) - perhaps history will also be kind to Blade Runner 2049. Nonetheless, this is truly a very depressing result for Blade Runner 2049: Here was a passionate attempt to revive a cult classic, be completely faithful to its original property, from its mind-blowing production design to its sophisticated plot, and now, kerplunk. Previous $100M-plus attempts and fails include the 2015 Point Break reboot and Johnny Depp’s Transcendence. Blade Runner 2049 marked arguably a third opportunity for Alcon Entertainment, the production label backed by FedEx founder Fred Smith, to graduate to tentpole fare after delivering low-to-mid-budget cash cows like The Blind Side to Warner Bros. One insider even asserts they came in under their original proposed budget. To Alcon’s credit, they took advantage of foreign credits and rebates, shooting Blade Runner 2049 in Hungary. One source with knowledge of the budget claims it’s significantly lower, in the $170M range versus the $155M being floated around.
Those affiliated with the movie have been saying that $400M is the magic break-even number, but Deadline sources believe that’s far from true. results for the sequel, and that it’s now up to Asia to save Blade Runner 2049. One financier remarked that they weren’t impressed by Friday’s early European B.O. 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' Dashes To $1B+ Global For Pandemic-Era First, Is Top 2021 Title WW - International Box Officeīy some miracle, should Blade Runner 2049 get into the low $40Ms by Sunday, it’s still not a fantastic start for this tentpole-size budgeted sci-fi film.
Forecasts for Blade Runner 2049 having been falling since Friday at noon from $45M to $36M late last night to now this. In fact, Blade Runner 2049‘s projected weekend isn’t that far from Scott’s summer misfire, Alien: Covenant ($36.1M). That’s an awful start for this brilliantly crafted cinematic opus directed by Denis Villeneuve and executive produced by Ridley Scott. We are, of course, comparing New Line/Warner Bros.’ It and Alcon Entertainment/ Sony’s Blade Runner 2049, and the latter is now looking at a three-day weekend of $31.5M as of Sunday AM, down from the $32.6M the industry spotted on Saturday morning.
total of $304.5M.Īt the same time, a $155M-plus attempt to reboot a cult sci-fi franchise may not even make it to $100M by the end of its domestic theatrical cycle. This weekend a $35 million-budgeted horror movie in its fifth frame will gross close to nine times its production cost with a running domestic B.O. Writethru Sunday AM: What a fascinating business.
For Part 2 of our weekend analysis of what went wrong with Blade Runner 2049 please click here.