Director Steven Spielberg’s alien science-fiction film Disclosure Day got off to a respectable start at the box office this past weekend, while Masters of the Universe hit a nasty bump in the road.
‘Disclosure Day’ opens with $93 million worldwide
Can a world-renowned director and all-time great name still be a big enough draw at the box office?
That’s the question that cinemagoers will help keen observers answer with Spielberg’s alien-contact film, Disclosure Day.
According to reports, the film cost cost $115 million to produce and an additional $80 million to market, meaning that only a gross of over $195 million will see the film starring Josh O’Connor, Emily Blunt, Colman Domingo and Colin Firth break even.
To kick things off, Disclosure Day opened with $44 million in the U.S. and drew in a further $49 million from international markets for a total of $93 million worldwide.
In the UK and Ireland, like in the U.S., the film topped the charts and made £3.9m from 727 locations, Spielberg’s best opening wicket in the territory since 2018’s Ready Player One, £4m.
It looks like Spielberg’s return to more mainstream cinema, after West Side Story and The Fabelmans, will go on to turn a profit.
That’s if it holds up across its coming weekends.
A ‘B’ Cinemascore and 72% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes suggest it will have the legs to succeed.
Unlike other films…
‘Masters of the Universe’ suffers a nasty drop
Masters of the Universe always looked like a box-office gamble, given its $200 million production budget to re-energise an IP derived from a 1980s cartoon.
Sadly for all involved, the gamble hasn’t paid off as Masters of the Universe suffered a nasty 70% drop at the box office in its second weekend.
The film has only just nudged over $86 million worldwide, likely hampered by negative reviews and poor word-of-mouth, and a box office flop is the predicted outcome.
Similarly, Scary Movie suffered a 70% drop, although it opened strongly, has grossed $173 million worldwide and only cost $30 million to produce.
Record-setters
On the flip side, YouTube native turned Hollywood sensation Curry Barker continues to defy box office expectations with his horror hit Obsession.
The film now has four consecutive weekend totals bigger than its opening, and its worldwide gross of $286 million is a record for Focus Features.
Barker’s YouTube contemporary, Kane Parsons, is also impressing with Backrooms, which is now A24’s highest-grossing film ever ($262.6 million).
Finally, Michael is now officially the highest-grossing music biopic ever with $932 million worldwide, beating Bohemian Rhapsody’s total of $911 million.
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