Disclosure Day, the widely publicized return of Steven Spielberg to the summer movie season, opened above expectations over the weekend with $44 million in North American ticket sales and more than $93 million worldwide. But with an audience that skewed older — 60 percent over 35 — and a middling B grade on CinemaScore from opening-night audiences, the alien conspiracy thriller, with its reported $115 million budget and hefty marketing spend, has dark skies ahead. “This movie needs to 3x its opening weekend to make any sense theatrically, which may be a leap,” says Sean McNulty. The opening for Spielberg’s first traditional summer blockbuster since Minority Report (take his adaptation of Roald Dahl‘s The BFG, which opened in July 2016, as you like) was “above average,” Sean adds, but “there’s a bit of a long way to go here.” Perhaps ominously, a recent comp for the Universal movie is Amazon MGM’s Masters of the Universe — a costly flop that earned a B on CinemaScore during its debut weekend, with an audience that leaned older than 35 (57 percent of the opening weekend audience). It cratered in its second frame, losing 71 percent of its ticket revenue. “I know some people who really liked Disclosure Day. But I probably have more people in my life who thought it was good but not amazing, or that it didn’t quite live up to the marketing,” Sean says. As Christopher Rosen notes, talk of a twist in Disclosure Day was a focal point of the film’s CinemaCon presentation back in April — with Spielberg claiming none of the third act had been seen in the trailers at that point. Things changed, however, closer to release — with a final trailer that revealed many key scenes from the ending sequence. “I was a little disappointed in that aspect because I felt like it was oversold,” Chris says. “I don’t know how the word of mouth will be.” 
Despite being led by Emily Blunt, the audience for Disclosure Day also leaned male — 57 percent versus 43 percent female. That, too, might be an issue for the movie in the weeks ahead, with Jackass: Forever and Supergirl on the horizon for June 26, after Toy Story 5 presumably explodes as a four-quadrant blockbuster this weekend ahead. “I don’t think the weeks ahead are going to be that kind to this, but right now it’s fine,” Chris says. “The opening is fine.” |
