Did The Boy and The 5th Wave Get Iced at the Box Office This Weekend?
Hollywood proved little match for the forces of nature this weekend as Superstorm Jonas froze out over a dozen major film markets. How cold was the reception for The Boy and The 5th Wave? Here’s a hint: Dirty Grandpa proved to be the hotter ticket.
Holdovers The Revenant, Star Wars, and Ride Along 2 held on to the top three slots, and Dirty Grandpa took fourth place despite getting some of the worst reviews in the history of film criticism. That left the weird and wacko demented doll flick The Boy (review) to take the fifth slot with about $11.26 million, according to Box Office Mojo. Given that already matches the film’s reported $11 million budget, The Boy has to be considered a success despite the studio hiding it from both critics (no critical screenings) and audiences (no Thursday sneak previews).
At least this new horror opus from the director of The Devil Inside didn’t generate reports of movie patrons spitting on the ground and throwing stuff at the screen in disgust. Cinemascore for The Boy was a fickle B- as opposed to the big fat F audiences gave The Devil Inside. Still, I think I know a way this movie could have been an even bigger box office hit…
As someone who has seen The Boy, let me just say it has one of the most uproariously bug-nuts third acts I’ve seen in a long time; so much so it might actually propel the film into future cult movie status. Seriously, the reveal is the stuff midnight movies are born from.
The 5th Wave had to settle for sixth place with $10.7 million its opening weekend. The adaptation of the apocalyptic YA novel starring Chloe Grace Moretz as one of the least proactive screen heroines in a long time, desperately trying to save her kid brother from alien invaders while constantly Dear Diary-ing the audience about the human condition and in constant need of being rescued by either of her love triangle boy toys: the high school crush turned non-Connor future freedom fighter with whom she shared about 30 seconds of flirtation and the Robert Pattinson with more muscles and less charisma human hybrid she literally shacks up with after the aliens invade.
Yes, I saw this one as well, and it was so anticlimactic I doubt The 6th Wave will be gracing screens any time soon. Unless the international box office blows up, that is.
Hey, remember The Forest? Already out of the top ten. That was fast. Guess you could say the box office has been “deforested.” Rimshot.
Won’t be doing too many of these box office reports in the near future since few horror films are getting wide releases in the next two months. The only horrific February offering is the genre mash-up Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The Witch does get a limited release as well, which could lead to a wider release if the positive buzz continues to build.
Oh, wait. I almost forgot about Gods of Egypt. It may not be specifically horror, but I suspect it’s definitely going to be something. Seems fitting it’s opening the same weekend as this year’s much-maligned Oscars ceremony. Get your #GodsOfEgyptSoWhite hashtags ready now!
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