Sandra Bullock’s new political drama Our Brand is Crisis has fallen flat with North American movie-goers, grossing just $3.4 million (£2.13 million) to become the worst box office debut of the actress’ career. The film’s starry run has brought in about $183 million since its premiere.
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Movie goers this Halloween couldn’t be tricked into theater seats, finding, alternatively, their treats elsewhere as evidenced by an overall poor performance for newcomers at the weekend box office.
“Our Brand Is Crisis” ($3.4 million, 2,202 screens, #8) and “Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse” ($1.8 million, #12, 1,509 screens) also struggled. “Goosebumps” has made $57.1 million in three weeks, while “Bridge of Spies” has been one of the only adult dramas to connect in recent weeks, earning $45.2 million since it debuted last month.
Rounding out the top sports were Dreamworks’ “Bridge of Spies”, which had about $8 million in ticket sales, and Sony’s “Hotel Transylvania 2”, which pulled in an estimate of over $5.5 million in sales. Though made for a modest $28 million, the film’s opening marks the worst wide-release debut of a movie headlined by Bullock, even falling below the $4.7 million of “Two if by Sea” in 1996.
But The Martian’s success – Fox announced in July it was moving up “The Martian’s” release from November to October 2, long after other studios had set their schedules – meant other movies fighting for older audience’s attention were left scrambling for scraps. Bullock asked George Clooney, a producer who was also intended for the part, if the writer would swap the gender instead and give it to his Gravity co-star.
“The weekend results for “Our Brand is Crisis” are upsetting”. Inspired by true events, Our Brand is Crisis stars Bullock and Thornton as political operatives trying to influence the Bolivian presidential election.
With mediocre reviews, even Bullock can’t drag people to see her in this political comedy. Burnt, which cost $20 million to produce, earned a B- CinemaScore and was skewered by reviewers, scoring a 26% rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Critics and audiences alike weren’t kind. It gets sad when it gets personal; when more time is spent leaking phony stories or redirecting the narrative away from the obvious shortcomings of their own candidates than on actual issues.
“It’s a small film and we didn’t spend a ton of money on it, but we were obviously hoping for more”, said Erik Lomis, the Weinstein Company’s distribution chief.
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Martian has now widened its lead over the pace of Interstellar to approximately $30 million.
