Warner Bros.’s release of Blade Runner 2049 isn’t kicking off OCtober’s box office numbers in the way that its creators originally hoped. The dystopian sequel, arriving 35 years after the original, crash landed over its three-day opening, falling well below even the most modest of expectations.
With an estimated $31.5 million, Blade Runner 2049 finished atop the weekend box office, but fell well below expectations. Entering the weekend the Warner Bros. release, in association with Alcon Entertainment and Sony, was expected to deliver anywhere from $45-55 million domestically and $4 million from Thursday previews signaled a solid start, but things quickly cooled for the $150 million production.
Heading into the weekend Blade Runner 2049 was pacing behind the likes of Mad Max: Fury Road and Interstellar when looking at IMDb page view comparisons and yet was pacing ahead of Prometheus and was showing positive gains against The Martian and Gravity, both of which debuted with over $54+ million in October.
Blade Runner did receive a positive “A-” CinemaScore, but the audience skewed heavily male, playing to an audience that was 71% male vs. 29% female, of which 63% of the total audience was over the age of 35. While these demographic numbers are almost identical to those for Mad Max: Fury Road, they don’t bode well for future returns when looked at in conjunction with the $31.5 million debut.
Internationally, Blade Runner met overseas expectations, debuting with an estimated $50.2 million from 63 markets, 61% of its international footprint, capturing the #1 spot in 45 of those markets. The film’s opening in the UK led the way with an estimated $8 million, on par with Interstellar and ~15% ahead of Mad Max: Fury Road. In Australia the film brought in an estimated $3.6 million, topping both Interstellar (9%) and Gravity (28%) and in Russia it finished with an estimated $4.9 million, on par with Mad Max: Fury Road. Additional openings include France ($3.6M), Germany ($3.3M), Spain ($2.6M), Italy ($2.5M), Brazil ($1.8M) and Mexico ($1.6M).
Blade Runner will open in South Korea next week followed by an October 27 opening in Japan and a November 10 opening in China.
