Last week, I wrote about the quick death of JENNIFER’S BODY, which continued a trend of horror flicks having poor showings at the B.O. (including SORORITY ROW and WHITEOUT). I then predicted that PANDORUM would have a similarly tough time, despite looking completely different than anything else playing… Unfortunately, my prediction was correct.
PANDORUM crashed and burned upon arrival into our atmosphere, gathering just over $4 million from 2,506 theaters. That’s a $1, 759 average per theater – which ain’t good. For a flick that cost around $40 million, that’s damn near disastrous (although distributor Overture Films supposedly only invested about $10 million in it). It might do better overseas, and should see a semi-healthy life on DVD, but there’s really no sugar-coating the fact that this movie is a great big bomb here in the U.S.
The Bruce Willis sci-fi epic SURROGATES really didn’t do much better, grabbing around $15 million from 2,951 theaters. Considering the budget was over $80 million, not including the plentiful marketing costs, it’s pretty much on par with PANDORUM’s disappointment – just on a much bigger scale.
For a bit of good news, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY did well in its limited release, prompting THIS thank you from director Oren Peli. Does this mean fans are seeking out movies that look new and original? Couldn’t be, that’s crazy talk…
Next week, ZOMBIELAND (starring Amber Heard, pictured below) has a chance to break the curse. I think it will do pretty well; how about you?