Will Smith’s con-man caper Focus dethroned Fifty Shades of Grey at the box office, but the film’s modest $19.1 million (Dh70.1 million) opening still left questions about the drawing power of the once unstoppable star.
According to studio estimates Sunday, Warner Bros’ Focus easily topped all competitors on a weekend with little competition at North American multiplexes. In second place was the Colin Firth spy thriller Kingsman: The Secret Service, which made $11.8 million in its third week of release.
After two weeks atop the box office, Fifty Shades of Grey continued its steep slide, landing in fourth with an estimated $10.9 million for Universal Pictures. Fifty Shades, which has made $486.2 million globally, fell just behind Paramount’s The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, which earned $11.2 million in its fourth week.
The weekend’s only other new wide release, Relativity’s horror film The Lazarus Effect, opened in fifth place with $10.6 million.
But the weekend was largely seen, fairly or not, as a referendum on Smith’s star power. Focus, written and directed by the Crazy, Stupid, Love duo Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, is Smith’s first film since 2013’s After Earth, the science-fiction flop in which he co-starred with his son, Jaden.
Smith has been frank about the sting of that film’s box-office performance. “I can’t allow the box-office success, or lack thereof, to determine my self-image,” he said in a recent interview.
But Focus, made for about $50 million and co-starring Margot Robbie of The Wolf of Wall Street, was never intended to be a summer-sized blockbuster. It had been predicted to make around $21 million.
“This is a mid-budgeted film with a result that matches,” said Jeff Goldstein, head of distribution for Warner Bros, who added that winter storms accounted for a drop of $1-2 million. “There’s no question we got hammered because of inclement weather in the South and the Midwest.”
The R-rated Focus, overwhelmingly appealed to adults, with 88 per cent of its audience older than 25 — not a good sign for Smith’s appeal to a new generation of moviegoers who weren’t around for his triumphs in Independence Day.
Nevertheless, there aren’t many stars who could do better with a drama in late February. And Focus should play well internationally, where Smith’s popularity remains strong.
“This still goes on his balance sheet as a number one debut,” said Paul Degarabedian, senior media analyst for box-office data firm Rentrak. “He can still draw an audience, particularly with a film that’s R-rated and not aimed at the young crowd.”
Some of last Sunday’s Oscar winners saw slight bumps at the box office.
Best-picture winner Birdman (Or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) added some 800 screens to bring in $2 million over the weekend, pushing its total past $40 million. Still Alice, for which Julianne Moore won best actress, added 553 screens and earned $2.7 million. It’s now made $12 million for Sony Pictures Classics.
American Sniper, far and away the biggest box-office hit of the best-picture nominees, was also easily the top post-Oscars draw. It added another $7.7 million, to bring its cumulative US gross to $331.1 million.
