Angelina Jolie's Those Who Wish Me Dead DOA as Spiral claims No 1

Los Angeles

ANGELINA Jolie's survival action thriller Those Who Wish Me Dead did not do much to revive the North American box office. The Warner Bros film, which debuted simultaneously on the streaming service HBO Max, took in a paltry US$2.8 million in its opening weekend.

The movie's hybrid release on HBO Max likely is not the reason Those Who Wish Me Dead sold hardly any tickets; Godzilla vs Kong and Mortal Kombat were both recent Warner Bros films that were able to generate decent box office revenues despite being released concurrently on a streaming service.

As movie theatres attempt to rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic, family films and computer-generated imagery (CGI) spectacles have been popular options to see on the big screen. Gritty dramas geared toward adult audiences have not been performing as well, and mediocre reviews for Those Who Wish Me Dead did not help drum up interest.

"The film was barely promoted even by pandemic standards and effectively went under the radar as both as a theatrical and streaming release," says Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at Box Office Pro.

"We've seen a number of genre thrillers aimed at audiences of a certain age open during the past year, so there could also be an element of saturation in play."

The film played in 3,188 cinemas, a sizeable footprint considering only 65 per cent of movie theatres are currently open, said Comscore. Taylor Sheridan directed Those Who Wish Me Dead, based on the novel by Michael Koryta. The story centres on a teenager who witnesses the murder of his father and goes on the run with a smoke-jumper (Jolie) to escape two gunmen trying to silence him.

Variety's chief film critic Peter Debruge was a fan of the film, writing in his review: "The idea may be outrageous, but Sheridan's commitment makes the whole thing work." Moviegoers gave the film a "B" CinemaScore.

Those Who Wish Me Dead, which finished the weekend in third place, was not the only new movie to open. Spiral, a creepy addition to the terrifying Saw franchise, brought in US$8.7 million between Friday and Sunday. That is a mediocre start given its US$20 million production budget, but it is enough to easily nab the No 1 spot on box office charts in the coronavirus era.

Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst with Comscore, says the debut of Spiral is "solid" given the slow-to-recover box office. "We are still operating in a very limited marketplace," he said. He is optimistic that things will pick up with the releases of Paramount's A Quiet Place Part II and Disney's Cruella over Memorial Day weekend.

Saw veteran Darren Lynn Bousman directed Spiral, which stars Chris Rock, Max Minghella and Samuel L Jackson. The film follows police efforts to stop a Jigsaw copycat killer. It got mixed reviews, with Variety's Owen Gleiberman saying for better or worse, the latest entry stays true to its graphic, stomach-churning roots. "No," he wrote, "the Saw series hasn't really changed. So depending on whether you're a fan or not, eat up . . . or throw up."

Fans of dismemberment movies ate well this weekend. Zack Snyder's zombie movie Army of the Dead also arrived on the big screen, one week before it becomes available on Netflix. Since the streaming service has a contentious relationship with cinema owners, the film only played in 430 locations, far fewer than its fellow new releases. Netflix, unlike traditional movie studios, does not reveal box office data. However, rivals estimate that Army of the Dead generated US$800,000 over the weekend, enough to crack the top 10.

Army of the Dead came in slightly ahead of Profile, a thriller from Focus Features that follows an undercover British journalist in her quest to expose a terrorist recruiter through social media. Despite playing in 2,033 North American theatres, the movie did not make much of a dent and brought in just US$670,000.

Elsewhere at the domestic box office, a series of holdovers rounded out charts. Wrath of Man, a heist thriller starring Jason Statham, slid to No 2 in its second weekend of release, adding US$3.7 million from 3,007 theatres. The MGM film has made US$14.6 million in North America to date.

At the international box office, where Miramax is distributing the movie, Wrath of Man has grossed US$41.4 million in total. It opened in Chinese theatres on Monday and made US$7.1 million in its first three days of release, as well as another US$8.7 million over the weekend, bringing its tally in China to US$18.5 million.

Ranking slightly below Those Who Wish Me Dead, the anime film Demon Slayer: Mugen Train and Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon landed in fourth and fifth place, respectively.

Demon Slayer has become an unexpected hit in the US. In its fourth weekend in theatres, the film collected US$1.78 million for a domestic haul of US$41.9 million. Meanwhile, Raya and the Last Dragon, which is currently available on Disney+ for a premium US$30 rental fee, pulled in US$1.71 million in its 11th weekend of release. That brings its cumulative total to US$46 million. REUTERS