{"id":110029,"date":"2017-08-06T23:29:07","date_gmt":"2017-08-07T03:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=110029"},"modified":"2017-08-06T23:29:07","modified_gmt":"2017-08-07T03:29:07","slug":"dark-tower-tops-slow-weekend-detroit-disappoints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/08\/06\/dark-tower-tops-slow-weekend-detroit-disappoints\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Dark Tower’ tops slow weekend, ‘Detroit’ disappoints"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The long-awaited Stephen King adaptation \u201cThe Dark Tower\u201d debuted with an estimated $19.5 million in North American ticket sales, narrowly edging out the two-week leader \u201cDunkirk.\u201d (Photo By WP:NFCC#4, Fair use)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NEW YORK \u2014 After a decade of development and several postponements, the long-awaited Stephen King adaptation \u201cThe\u00a0Dark\u00a0Tower\u201d debuted with an estimated $19.5 million in North American ticket sales, narrowly edging out the two-week leader \u201cDunkirk.\u201d<\/p>\n

The modest result for \u201cThe\u00a0Dark\u00a0Tower,\u201d starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, was in line with expectations heading into the weekend but well shy of initial hopes for a possible franchise-starter.<\/p>\n

J.J. Abrams and Ron Howard are among the directors who previously tried to tackle King’s magnum opus, a seven-book series that melds sci-fi with horror and other genres.<\/p>\n

But the long battle to make \u201cThe\u00a0Dark\u00a0Tower\u201d ended with poor reviews and few fireworks. Still, the movie was made for a relatively modest amount: about $60 million, or half of what many other summer movies cost. Sony Pictures also split costs with Media Rights Capital.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was always an ambitions and bold undertaking but it was made at the right price,\u201d said Adrian Smith, president of domestic distribution for Sony Pictures.<\/p>\n

By comparison, the recent flop \u201cValerian and the City of a Thousand Planets,\u201d which opened with $17 million, cost at least $180 million to make.<\/p>\n

Christopher Nolan’s World War II epic \u201cDunkirk\u201d slid to second with $17.6 million in its third week. It’s now made $133.6 million domestically. Other holdovers \u2014 \u201cThe Emoji Movie\u201d ($12.4 million in its second week) and \u201cGirls Trip\u201d ($11.4 million in its third week) followed.<\/p>\n

Another long-delayed film also made its debut. The Halle Berry thriller \u201cKidnap\u201d opened with $10.2 million. The film, styled after the Liam Neeson \u201cTaken\u201d series,\u201d was released by the new distributor Aviron Pictures after it bought the North American rights from Relativity. Before entering bankruptcy, Relativity had scheduled the film’s release for 2015.<\/p>\n

But \u201cKidnap\u201d still outperformed the week’s other new wide release, the far more anticipated \u201cDetroit.\u201d The Kathryn Bigelow-directed docudrama is also the first release for an upstart distributor.<\/p>\n

The first film distributed by Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures, \u201cDetroit\u201d debuted with a disappointing $7.3 million after a limited release last week. As a producer, Ellison, the Oracle heiress, has been behind some of the most acclaimed films in recent years, including \u201cFoxcatcher\u201d and \u201cAmerican Hustle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDetroit,\u201d the third collaboration between Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal (\u201cThe Hurt Locker,\u201d \u201cZero\u00a0Dark<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>Thirty\u201d), reimagines the terror-filled events around the Algiers Motel incident during the 1967 Detroit riots.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wish more people had showed up this weekend but we are really, really proud of the movie,\u201d said Erik Lomis, Annapurna’s distribution chief. \u201cThe movie got an A-minus CinemaScore and the reviews have been spectacular.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though hard-hitting, auteur-driven films are typically fall material, Annapurna timed the release of \u201cDetroit\u201d to the 50th anniversary of the riots. Lomis said the intention was to bring the film to as broad an audience as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that smart audiences actually want and will see great movies all year round,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In limited release, Taylor Sheridan’s Indian reservation thriller \u201cWind River,\u201d starring Jeremy Renner, debuted with a strong per-screen average of $13,053 in four theatres. The Weinstein Co. release was written and directed by Sheridan, the screenwriter behind the Oscar-nominated \u201cHell or High Water.\u201d<\/p>\n

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers also are included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u201cThe\u00a0Dark Tower,\u201d $19.5 million ($8 million international).<\/li>\n
  2. \u201cDunkirk,\u201d $17.6 million ($25 million international).<\/li>\n
  3. \u201cThe Emoji Movie,\u201d $12.4 million ($12 million international).<\/li>\n
  4. \u201cGirls Trip,\u201d $11.4 million ($1.7 million international).<\/li>\n
  5. \u201cKidnap,\u201d $10.2 million.<\/li>\n
  6. \u201cSpider-Man: Homecoming,\u201d $8.8 million ($9.6 million international).<\/li>\n
  7. \u201cAtomic Blonde,\u201d $8.2 million ($5 million international).<\/li>\n
  8. \u201cDetroit,\u201d $7.3 million.<\/li>\n
  9. \u201cWar for the Planet of the Apes,\u201d $6 million ($31.5 million international).<\/li>\n
  10. \u201cDespicable Me 3,\u201d $5.3 million ($21.2 million international).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

    Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theatres (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to comScore:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. \u201cWolf Warrior 2,\u201d $163 million.<\/li>\n
    2. \u201cOnce Upon a Time,\u201d $38 million.<\/li>\n
    3. \u201cWar for the Planet of the Apes,\u201d $31.5 million.<\/li>\n
    4. \u201cA Taxi Driver,\u201d $25.2 million.<\/li>\n
    5. \u201cDunkirk,\u201d $25 million.<\/li>\n
    6. \u201cDespicable Me 3,\u201d $21.2 million.<\/li>\n
    7. \u201cThe Emoji Movie,\u201d $12 million.<\/li>\n
    8. \u201cValerian and the City of a Thousand Planets,\u201d $11 million.<\/li>\n
    9. \u201cSpider-Man: Homecoming,\u201d $9.6 million.<\/li>\n
    10. \u201cCars 3,\u201d $9.6 million.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      NEW YORK \u2014 After a decade of development and several postponements, the long-awaited Stephen King adaptation \u201cThe\u00a0Dark\u00a0Tower\u201d debuted with an …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":110038,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[20504],"class_list":["post-110029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uncategorized","tag-dark-tower","mauthors-jake-coyle","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}