'Dear Evan Hansen' Bombs, 'Shang-Chi' Stays on Top
by EG
This week's only big new movie release, Dear Evan Hansen, failed at the box office, coming in second to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. The Marvel film enjoyed its fourth weekend in the number-one slot and has become the highest-grossing movie of the pandemic era. Read on for details.
Universal’s Dear Evan Hansen sang off-key in its big-screen debut with a $7.5 million second-place finish as superhero sensation Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings continued to top the domestic chart in its fourth weekend upon earning another $13.3 million.
Additionally, Shang-Chi became the top-grossing pic of the pandemic era in North America, a record previously held by fellow Marvel Studios title Black Widow ($183.4 million). The Marvel and Disney tentpole finished Sunday with a domestic gross of $196.5 million.
Overseas, Shang-Chi took in another $14 million from 45 markets for an international box office cume of $166.9 million and $363.4 million globally. But it was Warner Bros. and Legendary’s sci-fi epic Dune that topped the foreign chart with $26.3 million from 32 markets for an early offshore cume of $76.5 million. Dune, directed by Denis Villeneuve, opened last weekend in select markets, including in much of Europe. The sci-fi epic lands in U.S. theaters on Oct. 22.
In North America, Dear Evan Hansen‘s mediocre launch was mitigated by the fact that the movie adaptation of the smash Broadway musical cost less than $30 million to produce, a relatively modest sum for a major Hollywood studio offering.
It remains to be seen whether the Universal film can overcome generally poor reviews (its current ranking on Rotten Tomatoes is 33 percent). Audiences liked the coming-of-age story far more, giving it an A- CinemaScore.
Dear Evan Hansen was filmed in the latter half of summer 2020 by director Stephen Chbosky during the pandemic, with Ben Platt — now 27 years old — reprising his Tony Award-winning lead role as a lonely, disconnected high-school student. Hopes were high, considering that the Tony award-winning stage play was a cultural phenomenon.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.