Weekend box office: 'Spectre' on top as 'By the Sea' treads water
James Bond and Charlie Brown were the champions of the box office again this past weekend. What's behind the underwhelming performance of films like 'Sea' and the drama 'The 33'?
'Spectre' stars Daniel Craig.
Jonathan Olley/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures/Columbia Pictures/EON Productions/AP
It鈥檚 not easy to take down James Bond.聽
The new Bond movie 鈥淪pectre鈥� came in first at the box office this weekend, which was its second in theaters. The new animated movie 鈥淭he Peanuts Movie,鈥� which was also a holdover from last weekend, placed second. 鈥淪pectre鈥� took in more than $35 million, while 鈥淧eanuts鈥� grossed more than $24 million.
New movies didn鈥檛 fare overly well at the box office. The new film that did the best was the family holiday drama 鈥淟ove the Coopers,鈥� but the movie only took in a bit more than $8 million over the weekend, placing third but coming in far behind 鈥淧eanuts鈥� at second place.聽
The movie 鈥淭he 33,鈥� which was based on the true story of Chilean miners who were rescued in 2010, came in fifth, behind 鈥淭he Martian.鈥� 鈥�33鈥� grossed more than $5 million.
Meanwhile, the drama 鈥淏y the Sea,鈥� which was directed by Angelina Jolie Pitt and starred her and Brad Pitt, did not set sail auspiciously. It debuted in only 10 theaters and made less than $1 million.
What made movies like 鈥淐oopers,鈥� 鈥�33,鈥� and 鈥淪ea鈥� underperform? Poor reviews are likely one culprit. All of them received negative notices from critics, so even if the star-studded casts of 鈥淐oopers鈥� or 鈥淪ea鈥� or the inspiring real-life basis of 鈥�33鈥� attracted moviegoers originally, they may have decided against going after hearing from reviewers.
In addition, this fall鈥檚 box office may provide a cautionary tale for how movie studios should release smaller projects. The acclaimed drama 鈥淪potlight,鈥� which tells the true story of the Boston Globe鈥檚 reporting on the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, has been in limited release. It鈥檚 slowly expanding its locations and so industry watchers are more impressed with its box office performance, with writer Devan Coggan calling the movie鈥檚 results so far 鈥渟olid鈥� and writer Scott Mendelson finding its gross to be a 鈥渢errific鈥� result.聽
By contrast, some recent smaller movies may have opened wide or expanded too quickly. Some were surprised by the lackluster box office performance of the movie 鈥淪teve Jobs,鈥� which stars Michael Fassbender as the tech giant. 鈥淛obs鈥� director Danny Boyle said that he thinks the film should have opened slowly, expanding to more locations gradually, as good word-of-mouth increased. This is the strategy 鈥淪potlight鈥� is following. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very disappointing that when it was released wide across America it didn鈥檛 really work," he said. So it鈥檚 retreated back now to the main cities. It鈥檚 very easy in hindsight [to speculate], but I think it鈥檚 probably that we released it too wide too soon.鈥�
However, the crucial ingredient for that strategy is good reviews. Even if a movie like 鈥�33,鈥� 鈥淪ea,鈥� or a previous underperformer like 鈥淏urnt鈥� had opened more slowly, they all still got negative reviews. Opening in fewer locations initially would probably not have helped the films.