In its second week in theaters, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 earned a whopping $60.5M, adding to its massive box office pot. The Disney/Marvel Studios film opened the weekend of May 5 with $118.4M and in spite of a 67.4% drop in ticket sales on the second Friday of its release, GOTG Vol. 3 still managed to nab a total domestic box office of $213.2M ($475.7M worldwide), so far.
The Chris Pratt feature did not draw as much as The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Universal), another film starring the actor, which opened to $146.3M and is enjoying a worldwide box office of $1.2B at the moment. Something these films have in common, besides Pratt, is that they are big tentpoles targeting varied demographics, some would say they’re adult films that are appropriate for kids (or the other way around).
Altogether, this proves that theaters aren’t dead. However, tentpole and superhero movies are dominating the box office more than ever, nearly pushing nostalgic sports dramas based on real-life superheroes beyond the mezzanine to the back balcony.
Only three weeks out the gate and Big George Foreman, a seemingly long overdue biopic on the famous two-time world heavyweight champion, quickly fell flat after opening in 3,054 theaters. Sony Pictures was able to earn $2.9M in the opening weekend, but the following days saw significant drops — the second Friday gross fell by nearly 78% to $230,577.
After just two weeks on exhibit, the film has been quickly reduced to only 1,304 theaters. Big George Foreman currently stands at $5.3M domestically in its third week.
Meanwhile, MGM/Weinstein’s Air, a story about the rise of Michael Jordan’s partnership with Nike in the creation of the billion-dollar shoe brand Air Jordan, opened the weekend of April 5 to $14.5M despite incredible talent, such as Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Viola Davis, Chris Tucker, and Jason Bateman, being attached to the inspiring film. Six weeks in, Air has barely surpassed the $50M mark.
There may be one good reason for Air’s quick burn out outside of the obvious decline of less showy genres relative to tentpoles in theaters. Sports and fashion fans finally have a film on Michael Jordan that’s not a documentary and surprisingly, his portrayal is limited to over-the-shoulder shots and a few words. Not quite what audiences may have been expecting, however that doesn’t take away from the stellar performances and great storytelling.
The box office performances of Big George Foreman and Air are the unfortunate casualties of a rapidly changing industry and the equally rapid matching consumer tastes. 20th Century Studios is taking heed, wisely opting to release the much-anticipated sports comedy White Men Can’t Jump on streamer Hulu instead of the silver screen. After so many years of streamers and their major studio parent companies convincing moviegoers to watch films from home, it looks like audiences are finally taking the advice.
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