Don't say I didn't tell you, but I did. And maybe it's because of the summer doldrums, but Sparkle, and in fact all this weekend's new releases, underperfomed to expectations.
In the case of Sparkle, box office analysts last week were predictiing a $20-22 million weekend gross that, by Friday night, dropped down to $16 million. But this weekend's take of $12 million was lower than anyone expected.
In my piece below, about the lack of a 35th anniversary blu-ray DVD of the original film, I gave my reasons why I thought the film wouldn't do well. But to paraphrase what I said – just who exactly was the audience for this film? With that b.o. opening, the film will have a very hard time reaching just $35 million before all is said and done.
And Total Recall, when you consider its production budget and what it's taken in so far (unless it does monster business overseas), is set to become the biggest flop of the summer.
And the one weird new entry is the 13th place box office listing for 2016 Obama's America one of those paranoid, "Obama is black nationalist radical socialist out to destroy America" documentaries made by and for people who spend a lot of their free time wearing white hoods and burning crosses, longing for the good day days when black folks knew their place.
1) The Expendables 2 LGF $28,750,000
2) The Bourne Legacy Uni. $17,020,000 Total: $69,581,000
3) ParaNorman Focus $14,008,000
4) The Campaign WB $13,385,000 Total:$51,694,000
5) Sparkle TriS $12,000,000
6) The Dark Knight Rises WB $11,140,000 Total:$409,916,000
7) The Odd Life of Timothy Green BV $10,909,000 Total:$15,187,000
8) Hope Springs Sony $9,100,000 Total:$35,051,000
9) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days Fox $3,850,000 Total:$38,762,000
10) Total Recall Sony $3,500,000 Total:$51,782,000
11) Ice Age: Continental Drift Fox $2,950,000 Total:$150,136,000
12) Ted Uni. $1,625,000 Total:$213,146,000
13) 2016 Obama's America RM $1,249,000 Total:$2,067,000