'Dumbo' Doesn't Soar With $45M Opening; Matthew McConaughey At Bottom With $1.8M 'Beach Bum'
Disney's
Dumbo didn't leave a big footprint with a meh
$45M opening after a $17.5M Saturday, which, next to Friday-plus previews, is +16%. This is not one of the better openings for a tentpole-conceived live action remake of a Disney 'toon from a marquee director. After shelling out $170M to make a movie based on a 78-year old Disney cornerstone character, this can't be celebrated as a grand slam in the wake of
Beauty and the Beast, Jungle Book, Cinderella, and
Maleficent. Sorry,
Dumbo didn't soar, but he wasn't completely grounded either. Disney is calling
Dumbo at $45M, which is under the $50M+ start they hoped for and the crazy $60M estimates a couple of B.O. analysts were seeing.
As we said in the previous update,
Dumbo wasn't a case of the studio fumbling marketing, he's just an old, melancholy elephant, even if he does fly, and, well, that's not a sell-out.
When it comes to their brands, Disney likes to emphasize how their properties (like the tired
Cars) go well beyond the big screen into theme parks and merchandising sales. Their characters' lives don't end at the big screen. That said, it's fair to say that the so-so stateside performance of
Dumbo won't shorten lines for the ride at Disneyland parks, or send his plush animal sales into the tank. But it's probably unlikely anyone will be dressing up as Jumbo Jr. at Halloween, a la Elsa a year after the massive
Frozen was released. Whether critics liked
Dumbo or not, Disney entrusted Burton to make the most authentic
Dumbo as possible, and, in the end, the pachyderm pic isn't so horrible that he's tarnished his brand. Essentially, the studio can check off a box that they made a
Dumbo live action film and branched out a 78-year old property. And Disney can take such gambles on live-action family fare, like
Wrinkle in Time last year, since they have a slate of Marvel fare to bail them out.
Also,
Dumbo skews way younger: 51% of those between 7-9 made up the majority of kids under 12 in PostTrak exits. Fifty-nine percent were under-25, with 41% under 17 years old. The mix was 53% Caucasian, 24% Hispanic, 14% Asian/Other & 9% African-American.
Dumbo played best in the West, Mid & South-West. Nine out of the top three runs came from there, with one in NY. IMAX & PLF accounted for 20% of the BO, while 3-D made up only 12.5% (some of which was included in the IMAX & PLF). Hopefully, the A- CinemaScore pans out for the pic's word of mouth in weeks to come.
Pure Flix for a while released their movies without distribution partners, i.e. Freestyle with the 2014 Lent sleeper
God's Not Dead, which opened to $9.2M and did a 6.6 multiple for a final $60.7M. But among their own distributed product under their faith-based label, their challenged, anti-abortion film
Unplanned turned out to be PureFlix's second-best opening of all-time with
$6.1M, after 2016's
God's Not Dead 2 ($7.6M). Remarkable, considering that the film was rated R, still pulled in its faith-based followers, with the distributor boxed out from running TV spots on most major cable networks and Christian radio.
Bleecker Street/ShivHans'
Hotel Mumbai made $3.1M with the wider audience in weekend 2 rating the film at 77% positive with a 50% recommend,which won't get the film very far in the long run. Those who showed were 52% Female and surprisingly 63% under 35 years old with the largest quad being 25-34 at 30%. The mix was 51% Caucasian, 25% Asian/Other, 17% Hispanic, & 7% African American.
Hotel Mumbaiplayed best the coasts where 9 of the top 10 runs came from and the big cities clearly lead the way.
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