'Alita: Battle Angel' Tops Box Office on Disappointing President's Day Weekend

Movie

The Robert Rodriguez-directed sci-fi action film leads the domestic chart on the worst President's Day weekend in 15 years.

Feb 18, 2019

AceShowbiz - Seven weeks into 2019 and domestic box office hasn't shown a sign of resurgence despite the arrival of another new big movie. "Alita: Battle Angel", one of the wide releases last week, tops the North American box office on President's Day weekend with a modest opening of an estimated $27.8 million for the three-day.

The cyberpunk action movie adapted from Yukito Kishiro's manga series "Gunnm" has so far collected $36.5 million and is expected to earn over $33 million for the four-day weekend. Despite surpassing the $30 million expectations heading into the weekend, it's still far from covering the production budget which is estimated at $170 million. Overseas, the movie has brought in $94.3 million from 11 markets for a worldwide total of $130.9 million so far.

The movie, which marks James Cameron's first foray into comic book adaptation as a writer and producer, holds an average rating of 6/10 on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite not so favorable reviews from critics, it received A- from audiences on CinemaScore.

The comic books' creator, Kishiro, however, has nothing but praises for the movie. "Thanks to the great staff, it has become the greatest movie in the world," he said after seeing it for the fifth time at the Japanese premiere. "Every time I see, I can find something new. The composition is amazing. All scenes are special and there are no unneeded ones. It is so exciting that I can't believe that I created the original story."

Editors' Pick

Following "Alita" close behind at No. 2 is last week's champion "The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part", which added an estimated $21.2 million, dropping 37.8% from last week. Taking advantage of Valentine's Day, Rebel Wilson's romantic comedy "Isn't It Romantic" debuts at No. 3 with approximately $14.2 million.

"Happy Death Day 2U", a sequel to 2017's sleeper hit "Happy Death Day", fell short of expectations, grossing an estimated $9.8 million, which has already covered its production budget, but it's far below the first movie's $26 million opening weekend. It lands at No. 5 on the domestic chart.

"What Men Want" completes the top five, finishing at No. 4 with additional $10.9 million for a current domestic total of $36.2 million after two weeks in theaters.

Overall, the arrival of the new releases still couldn't awaken the domestic box office from its continous decline since the beginning of 2019. This week, the top twelve movies grossed an accumulated $109.1 million, making it the worst three-day President's Day weekend since 2004. By comparison, last year saw the top twelve gross over $270 million, over $202 million of which was from the three-day opening for "Black Panther".

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