Chu’s film isn’t doing too well at the box office, according to reports – with a few claiming that it looks set to receive the lowest opening weekend ever for a release. Topping the list of worst is the animated tale “Delgo” released in 2008 which earned only $511,920 in 2,160 theaters or about $237 per theater then followed by “Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure” in 2012 with $206 per theater earnings or a total of $443,901 in 2,160 theaters. Joe: “Retaliation”, “Step Up 2: “The Streets” and “Now You See Me 2”, also revealed that the movie flop had been rough on his part.
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Preceded by “Jem” director John M. Chu’s Film Independent Forum keynote the day before (video below), Blum’s conversation with Blumhouse colleagues Couper Samuelson and Terri Taylor and moderator Jen Yamato (The Daily Beast) offered an impressively frank assessment of the challenges facing indie producers and filmmakers in a fast-changing industry landscape.
That works out to just $547 per theater for the entire weekend, which likely means Jem was playing to empty screenings.
“Yes, we only made the movie for [$5 million] but it doesn’t get easy when you hear those numbers”, Chu added. So you might get a few real s**t today, ‘ he told the audience.
At a keynote speech on Saturday (October 24) in Los Angeles, Jem director Jon M. Chu, who was already privy to the movie’s not-so-strong projections, said it simply didn’t move fans of its predecessor.
Giving us all a little less faith in humanity, Chu told the Film Independent Forum,
I get fans sending me hate mail, I get death threats, I get racist remarks it’s a really fun business.
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While Chu addressed his failing with the film adaptation of Jem and the Holograms he also made shocking revelations about hate mail he received from fans of the 1980s TV series. Obviously things aren’t going super well on the Jem and the Holograms front, but it won’t be long until Jon Chu gets his next opportunity to show movie-goers what he can do.
