Pan walked the plank over the Columbus Day Weekend in the US.
Warner Bros spent $150 million (Dh550.8 million) to bring the Neverland adventure to screens and millions more in marketing, but the big budget fantasy mustered a puny $15.5 million opening. That debut puts Pan alongside The Fantastic Four and Tomorrowland in the pantheon of the year’s most punishing flops.
“It’s a huge misfire,” said Jeff Bock, box office analyst with Exhibitor Relations, adding, “We won’t see another Peter Pan film for awhile.”
Pan’s backers weren’t the only ones having a rough weekend. Sony’s The Walk stumbled in its wide release, expanding from 448 Imax and premium large format theatres to more than 2,500 locations, and eking out $3.7 million in the process. The biopic about Philippe Petit’s daring high-wire walk between the Twin Towers cost $35 million to produce and has clear Oscar ambitions. It has made $6.4 million in its initial two weeks in theatres.
With the new major studio releases teetering, Fox’s The Martian stabilised overall ticket sales. The space thriller slipped a modest 32 per cent in its second weekend, nabbing $37 million and pushing its domestic total to $108.7 million. Sony’s Hotel Transylvania 2 also showed impressive endurance, racking up $20.3 million in its third weekend and bringing its stateside haul to $116.8 million.
The top five was rounded out by Warner Bros’ The Intern and Lionsgate’s Sicario, which earned $8.7 million and $7.3 million, respectively. The Intern has generated $49.6 million in receipts, while Sicario’s total stands at $26.7 million.
In limited release, Universal’s Steve Jobs scored, pulling in $521,000 across four theatres for a per-screen average of $130,236. That ranks as the best theatre average of the year.
Bruised by poor reviews and the continued strength of Hotel Transylvania 2, Pan failed to deliver family crowds. Roughly 55 per cent of its opening audience was female and 52 per cent of ticket buyers were over 25 years old. The film rolled out across 3,515 locations. Pan was originally slated to open in July, but Warner Bros pushed the film back into October citing the need for more time to complete the visual effects work. The film’s cast includes Hugh Jackman, Rooney Mara, and Garrett Hedlund.
Joe Wright, best known for prestige fare like Atonement, directed the picture.
