Jared Leto’s ‘Tron’ Skids With $33.5 Million Opening

The Disney reboot Tron: Ares performed poorly in its box office debut, falling well short of expectations with a $33.5 million domestic opening from 4,000 theaters. Unless it can resolve its problem quickly, it will end once and for all hopes of rebooting a legendary, but troubled, sci-fi franchise that began more than four decades ago, when the first film became a cult classic.

Abroad – where the science fiction genre is even harder to sell – Ares also disappointed with a debut of $27 million for an overall start of $60.5 million. It has rolled out everywhere except China, where it opens next weekend.

Heading into the weekend, the big-budget event pic was on pace to open to between $40 and $45 million domestically (at one point, $50 million was even a possibility) against a big net production budget of $180 million after tens of millions in tax breaks and production incentives.

THE Tron The film franchise has always been in question, leading to long gaps between installments. It took 33 years for the sequel, Tron: Legacyto go to the big screen. Starting in 2015, Legacy opened to $44 million domestically on track to earn $409.9 million globally, not adjusted for inflation. Ares had been in development for a decade, but former Disney exec Sean Bailey refused to give up and shepherded the project while head of Disney’s live-action studio.

Disney insiders knew well that Tron: Ares might face problems during its box office debut. The hope now is that strong audience scores can make up for decidedly mixed reviews. The current review score on Rotten Tomatoes is 57 percent, while the audience ranking is much better at 87 percent. And it got four out of five stars on PostTrak. Additionally, there is little competition ahead and will retain Imax, Dolby Cinema and other high-end large format screens, which together account for an unheard-of 67 percent of opening weekend revenue.

Norwegian Disney veteran Joachim Rønning is directing the third film, which stars Jared Leto as the eponymous program Ares, Greta Lee as Eve Kim, CEO of ENCOM, the technology company at the center of the series from the beginning, and Evan Peters as villain Julian Dillinger.

Another major novelty offered by the studios this weekend is the romantic comedy from Miramax and Paramount. Rooferwith Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst. Derek Cianfrance directed the picture, along with LaKeith Stanfield, Juno Temple and Peter Dinklage.

Roofer came in at the low end of expectations with an estimated $8 million from 3,362 theaters, but that counts when the film’s net production budget is a modest $19 million (the tracking had it debuting between $8 million and $10 million). Miramax produced and financed the film, which hoped to serve as counterprogramming for women who were not interested in Tron or the myriad of male-driven films dominating the marquee. So far, however, more men than women have shown up to see the film, although only by a small margin.

Contrary to Tron, Roofer enjoys rave reviews, although the reaction from moviegoers is relatively similar. RooferThe Rotten Tomatoes critic score is 85 percent, while the audience score is 84 percent. Both films received a B+ from the CinemaScore polling service, as well as four out of five stars on PostTrak.

Based on a true story, Roofer follows the adventures of an army veteran and struggling father who turns to robbing McDonald’s restaurants by cutting holes in their roofs, earning him the nickname Roofman. After escaping from prison, he secretly lives in a Toys “R” Us for six months, surviving undetected while planning his next move, but his double life begins to fall apart when he falls in love.

Another new national offering is Soul of Firefrom Sony’s Affirm faith-based label. The film opened to $3 million from 1,730 locations for a sixth place finish. The good news: The film reportedly cost $3 million net to produce and earned an A CinemaScore. It is in the heart of America and in the South that it is doing best.

At the specialist box office, A24 launched its star Rose Byrne If I had legs I’d kick you in four theaters for an estimated per location north of $27,000, the best of the weekend.

Amazon MGM Studios also takes the platform route with Luca Guadagnino’s specialized psychological thriller After the huntwith Julia Roberts. So far, it’s paying off; the #MeToo film was released in six theaters for a promising per-location average of $25,745. The awards contender, which also stars Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny, has been making the rounds at fall film festivals and is about a sexual assault accusation that is tearing apart Yale’s philosophy department.

The rating for After the hunt is by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who are on a double mission, having also done the score for Tron: Ares (in the latter, they are credited with the name of their group, Nine Inch Nails).

Among the remains, that of Paul Thomas Anderson One battle after anotherstarring Leonardo DiCaprio, came in third with an estimated weekend gross of $6.7 from 3,127 sites, a decline of 39 percent. Some box office experts are perplexed that Warner Bros.’ highest-profile awards contender doesn’t hold up any stronger after earning the coveted A+ CinemaScore, but the film’s fate is far from decided (it’s only its third release). Overseas, an additional $15 million was raised, for a global total of $83.5 million and $138 million globally.

New Line and Warner Bros. The Conjuring: Last Rites reached a major milestone by surpassing the $300 million mark internationally. In North America, it rounds out the top five with $3 million from 2,334 theaters for a domestic total of $233.4 million and a runaway profit of $473 million.

Japanese manga blockbuster Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba’s Infinite Castle also reached a major milestone this weekend by passing Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to become the highest-grossing international film of all time at the domestic box office with a gross of $128.6 million, not adjusted for inflation (it came seventh for the frame with $3 million from 1,834 locations. Sony’s Crunchyroll is handling the blockbuster both domestically and in many foreign territories outside of Japan; its share of the film’s worldwide total of $648 million dollars is $336 million.)

Dwayne Johnson-starring The smashing machine seemed to flop in its second weekend after being snubbed by audiences, despite solid reviews. The A24 pic fell nearly 70 percent to $1.7 million from 3,321 theaters for a paltry 10-day domestic total of $9.8 million and an eighth-place finish. The film, which kicked off its awards campaign with a splashy world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, marks Johnson’s first foray into Oscar territory. The Benny Safdie-directed picture cost $50 million to produce before it was released to the market, a steep price for an independent picture, although Johnson himself received a much lower fee than he usually commands.