Tron: Ares won the weekend box office, but the results are nowhere near what Disney was probably hoping for with another stab at the franchise.
Tron: Ares opened to $33.5 million domestically, which is down significantly from the opening of Tron: Legacy in 2010. Legacy opened to $44 million, which, adjusted for inflation, would be around $63 million in today’s dollars. Worldwide, the movie had made $60.2 million. The film cost $180 million to make, so it has a long way to go to break even, let alone be profitable in the theatrical window. The movie received a B+ CinemaScore, which doesn’t bode well for word of mouth going into its second weekend. The Tron fanbase is very niche, and it wouldn’t be surprising if everyone interested saw it this past weekend and it crashes this coming weekend.
Roofman opened in second place with $8.1 million at the domestic box office. For Channing Tatum, that puts it between Magic Mike’s Last Dance and Logan Lucky for openings. It was the biggest opening ever for director Derek Cianfrance, whose previous high was The Light Between Oceans in 2016 with $4.7 million. The movie also got a B+ CinemaScore, but the stakes are much lower here than in Tron: Ares, since Roofman had a much lower budget.
One Battle After Another dropped to third with another $6.6 million. It’s up to $54.5 million domestically and $138 million worldwide.
Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie and Soul on Fire rounded out the top 5. Soul on Fire opened in fifth place with $3 million and earned an A CinemaScore from a mostly faith-based audience.
The Smashing Machine nosedived in its second weekend, falling to eighth place with $1.7 million, a 69% drop from last weekend’s opening. It’s made $9.8 million total domestically and $11.9 million worldwide.
Kiss of the Spider Woman opened outside the top 10 with $891,046 in 1,331 theaters, almost getting topped by The Long Walk in its fifth weekend of release.
The best per-theater average went to Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt, which made $26,447 in each of its six theaters this weekend. It expands wider this coming weekend.
