‘Pan’ lacks magic at the box office; ‘The Martian’ soars

“Warner Bros.is going to be just fine”, Phil Contrino, senior analyst at BoxOffice.com told TheWrap. In 52 worldwide markets, the movie brought in just $20.5 million. The $98 million MGM film made only $10 million domestically and for years was considered the biggest money-loser ever.

So why didn’t “Pan” fly?

Dish was initially set to open this past July, however a stressed Warners deferred its discharge to fall, apparently a calmer hallway. It stars Hugh Jackman, Rooney Mara and Garrett Hedlund, with unknown Levi Miller in the titular role. The studio also has sequels from The Conjuring and Barbershop on the way and a few original projects that could surprise. As Scott Mendelson at Forbes points out, that puts it in the infamous company of Tomorrowland, John Carter, and The Lone Ranger – all of which actually opened to around $30 million, i.e., twice as much as Pan.

In a more disappointing performance, Sony’s “The Walk” failed to captivate audiences in its move to wide release.

Hotel Translyvania 2 also continues to impress, earning $20.3 million to bring its three-week domestic total to $116.8 million. Not helping is that Pan is getting panned by most (pun intended). Its Saturdays and Sundays have been its strongest days due to kids having the day off from school. It might have generated better word-of-mouth and benefited from the surcharge.

Sony’s high-wire spectacle “The Walk” also stumbled in its first weekend in wide release, after debuting on IMAX screens last week. So most “Pan” viewers had to settle for 2D screenings. Nonetheless, this decision seems to have backfired.

The release delay and Tiger Lily controversy may have tainted the film for reviewers, but it’s not like critics didn’t have high hopes for this film. Remember this is a family film yet just 23% of Pan’s audience was under the age of 18.

Movie-goers are not enticed to take the ride with Pan to Neverland, they’d rather head to Mars and take a staycation at a villain-only hotel. What do you want to see?

Throughout the weekend, the aggressive Peter Pan inception story besieged at the North American film industry, earning an insignificant $15.5 million in spite of a $150 million creation spending plan and an amicable PG rating. In fact, global audiences have helped bail out Warner Bros. and its rivals a lot in recent years, but to depend on that is a bad business model.

Additionally, there is a bit of “Peter Pan” saturation right now. That might still happen, if foreign grosses are good enough. The movie’s marketing could not decide if it was a visual-effects action movie. Lionsgate’s Sicario with Emily Blunt fell to fifth with $7.3 million.