'Blade Runner 2049' Underperforms With $31.5M Opening at Box Office
Movie

The sequel to the 1982 sci-fi classic debuts in the first place at the domestic box office, but falls considerably short of expectations in the $45-$50 range.

AceShowbiz - "Blade Runner 2049" underperformed in its debut weekend at North American box office. The sequel to the 1982 sci-fi classic opened in the first place with $32.8 million, surpassing its competition but falling considerably short of expectations in the $45-$50 range.

It's a disappointing start for the big-budget movie. Costing at least $150 million to make and earning glowing reviews from critics, the movie starring Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling failed to pull moviegoers beyond fans of the original flick. The audience was overwhelmingly male (71|percent|) and older than 25 (86|percent|).

"I'm disappointed we didn't have a larger result this weekend," says Jeff Goldstein, president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros., which distributed the film domestically. "We had bigger expectations for the weekend. The tracking and the advance sales indicated that there would be a stronger number."

"It's an intellectually charged, apocalyptic sci-fi story. It's not a 'Close Encounters', it's not 'Star Wars'. It's a challenging film. To me, those are the best type of films," says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at comScore. "But does it make it the most commercial? No." He adds, "It was creatively and thematically perfectly executed, but it didn't play to the numbers everyone thought."

Other newcomers this weekend were Fox's "The Mountain Between Us" and Lionsgate's "My Little Pony: The Movie". The Kate Winslet and Idris Elba-starring film landed in the runner-up spot with $10.6 million, while the animated film featuring the voices of Emily Blunt and Sia Furler among others opened in the fourth place with $8.9 million.

Rounding out the top five were "It", which dropped one slot to the third place, and "Kingsman: The Golden Circle", which fell to No. 5. The film adaptation of Stephen King's horror novel collected an additional $10 million this weekend, while the follow-up to "Kingsman: The Secret Service" earned $8.7 million.

Top Ten Movies at Weekend Box Office for October 6-8:

  1. "Blade Runner 2049" - $32.8 million
  2. "The Mountain Between Us" - $10.6 million
  3. "It" - $10 million
  4. "My Little Pony: The Movie" - $8.9 million
  5. "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" - $8.7 million
  6. "American Made" - $8.4 million
  7. "The Lego Ninjago Movie" - $7 million
  8. "Victoria & Abdul" - $4.2 million
  9. "Flatliners" - $4 million
  10. "Battle of the Sexes" - $2.6 million

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