Audiences Hate Jennifer Lawrence's New Movie
by EG
There was some hope that Jennifer Lawrence's new movie, Mother!, would do as well at the box office as many recent hit horror movies. Those hopes were quickly dashed when reactions from audiences in the movie's opening weekend indicated that viewers thought the film was one of the worst ever.
Darren Aronofsky's mother! stalled in its domestic box-office debut, grossing an estimated $7.5 million from 2,368 theaters after receiving a rare F CinemaScore and facing competition from the blockbuster It.
mother!, an elevated psychological horror-thriller, supplanted The House at the End of the Street ($12.3 million) to mark the lowest nationwide launch of Jennifer Lawrence's career. The Paramount title, which costed $30 million to produce, came in No. 3 over the weekend behind It and new offering American Assassin. (In a sign that summer is over, all three titles are rated R.)
Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema's It continued to make history in its second weekend, declining a scant 51 percent to $60 million from 4,103 theaters, the biggest sophomore outing ever for a horror title. The pic is the latest commercial horror title to prosper following Annabelle: Creation, Get Out and Split in a huge boost for the genre.
It has already achieved numerous milestones. In its first 10 days, the film adaptation of Stephen King's novel has earned $218.7 million domestically, passing Get Out ($175.5 million) to become the No. 2 R-rated horror film of all time behind 1973's The Exorcist, not accounting for inflation. And it's already the top-grossing September release in history. At this pace, It will finish its North American run with north of $300 million.
It is also scaring up big numbers overseas, grossing $60.3 million in its second weekend from 56 markets for a foreign tally of $152.6 million and a stunning $371.3 million worldwide against a $35 million budget. Highlights included a record-breaking horror opening of $13.8 million in Mexico.
In North America, It is a needed balm after a troubling summer box-office season. Thanks to the film's performance, the year-over-year revenue decline has narrowed from nearly 7 percent to 5 percent.
CBS Films and Lionsgate's American Assassin placed No. 2 with a solid $14.8 million from 3,154 theaters, on par with Lionsgate's 2014 action pic John Wick ($14.4 million). The movie cost a net $33 million to make.
Directed by Michael Cuesta, American Assassin stars Dylan O'Brien as a CIA operative who teams with a veteran agent (Michael Keaton) to stop terrorists from starting a world war. The film, also featuring Sanaa Lathan, Shiva Negar and Taylor Kitsch, is based on late author Vince Flynn's novel of the same name and earned a B+ CinemaScore from audiences.
Heading into the weekend, American Assassin held only a slight edge over mother! according to tracking. But throughout the weekend, mother! continued to slip.
Getting slapped with an F CinemaScore on Friday didn't help matters (only a dozen or so movies have ever received the failing grade) for mother! The movie skewed older, with 52 percent of the audience over the age of 35, including 22 percent over 50. Comps to Aronofsky's previous prestige films, including 2010's Black Swan, are tough since they launched in select theaters before expanding, prompting some to question why Paramount opened mother! nationwide.
Read the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
Were you one of the people who hated Mother! Let us know why it's so bad in the comment section below.