Every once in a while, when the box office is in a bit of a lull, we look to the next would-be tentpole as a big-budget savior. Alas, it doesn’t always work out. Even so, I didn’t think Tron: Ares, the quasi re-reboot of the 1980s sci-fi franchise, would debut to such a paltry opening. The Jared Leto starrer opened to just $33.5 million domestically, and $60.5 million worldwide.
That’s significantly less than the $44 million earned by Tron Legacy back in 2010, and even worse than the $39 million brought in by star Jared Leto’s last high-profile bomb, Morbius. So, what happened? Maybe audiences don’t like the bad vibes of Jared Leto. Or maybe they didn’t care for a re-reboot, especially since Tron Legacy has developed something of a cult following in the years since its 2010 debut. While Ares doesn’t erase Legacy from canon, it doesn’t really continue its story, either. In fact, the legend goes that Ares is strongly inspired by one of the Tron sequel scripts that was rejected in favor of Legacy. There’s also the bizarre release window. Why drop a movie like this in the horror movie dump month of October? If I were a Disney exec, I wouldn’t run a $180 million blockbuster as counter-programming. All of this is to say, stay tuned in another 15 years for another Tron re-re-reboot.
Second place went to Roofman, starring Channing Tatum and Peter Dinklage. This ‘based on a true story’ crime comedy was always too esoteric to be a mainstream hit, but thanks to its modest budget (less than $20 million), it’s likely nobody will lose money on this one. Still, despite his considerable power, Channing Tatum hasn’t had a box office hit since 2022’s The Lost City (and no, his cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine doesn’t count, since it wasn’t “A Channing Tatum Movie”). Maybe someone should get the ball rolling on that Gambit solo movie.
One Battle After Another is still hanging in there in third place, with $6.6 million, bringing its total to $54 million. I don’t think it has the juice to get to $100 million locally, but it’s holding on pretty well overseas, to the tune of a $138 million worldwide total after three weekends.
Elsewhere, it was pretty quiet at the box office. The Smashing Machine is fading fast after its poor debut, dropping 69% (nice) to $1.79 million, bringing its ten-day total to just $9.8 million. Faith-based newcomer Soul on Fire opened to $3 million in fifth place, which was a far better result than Bill Condon’s remake of Curse of the Spider Woman, which, despite opening at 1,330 theaters, couldn’t even crack the top 10, earning just $918,775, a 12th place finish.
Maybe the weekend would have shook out differently if Taylor Swift were still here. Her movie opened to over $30 million last weekend, but it was a limited time engagement. Even so, if they extended its run, it surely would have brought in at least another $10 million this weekend, right? It feels like the Taylor Swift machine left money on the table. Then again, if they intended it to be a genuine movie instead of a limited promotional event, she and her team would have probably had to put a bit more effort into it than some low-fi lyric videos. No shade! Just my observations.
That’s about it for this week. Next week, we’ll see if Tron manages to hold on or crumble like a house of cards. Awards season contender After the Hunt goes wide (after opening in six theaters this past weekend), while The Black Phone 2 aims for the top spot after its predecessor brought in $23 million on its way to a $90 million domestic total back in 2021. I think the sequel can top it, but we’ll have to wait until next week to find out for sure.
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