Blade Runner 2049 Owns the Box Office, but Can't Deliver on the Hype

Warner Bros.'s release of Blade Runner 2049 came in below expectations at about $33 million. The critically acclaimed film from director Denis Villeneuve handily won the weekend, however, easily beating the runner up, Fox's The Mountain Between Us, which scored a tepid $11 million over the same frame. In third place, WB's It continued to scare up dollars, adding another $10 million to its record-breaking total. After five weeks, It has grossed $305 million domestically and well over $600 worldwide, a mind-boggling number considering the $35 million budget.

As the postmortems roll in on Blade Runner, it should be noted that the movie did receive a positive "A-" CinemaScore, and the Rotten Tomatoes score stands at a fresh 88%. The audience skewed heavily male, about 71% male vs. 29% female, and 63% of the total audience was over the age of 35. Clearly the male-oriented themes, and the R-rating, kept women and younger moviegoers away. International results were much better, with Blade Runner debuting at an estimated $50.2 million from 63 markets. It took the #1 spot in 45 of those markets, with strong finishes in the UK, Russia, and Australia.

PageBreaks Take: The media coverage on Blade Runner 2049 has been fascinating, with outlets frantically fanning the hype machine as they ballooned their box office estimates over the days leading up to release. Those same outlets then quickly jumped on the bashing bandwagon, giving all the reasons the movie flopped, which apparently eluded them the week before. If the film ends up having solid legs, and manages to hold screens through the awards season, look for these same experts to back-peddle again, no doubt telling anyone who will listen how they predicted the film's ultimate success.

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