{"id":96493,"date":"2017-04-02T21:25:06","date_gmt":"2017-04-03T01:25:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=96493"},"modified":"2017-04-02T21:25:06","modified_gmt":"2017-04-03T01:25:06","slug":"boss-baby-dethrones-beauty-and-the-beast-with-49m-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/04\/02\/boss-baby-dethrones-beauty-and-the-beast-with-49m-debut\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Boss Baby’ dethrones ‘Beauty and the Beast’ with $49M debut"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cBoss Baby\u201d also evokes Baldwin’s old \u201cGlengarry Glen Ross\u201d character with quips like \u201cCookies are for closers.\u201d (Photo: The Boss Baby\/ Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NEW YORK \u2013The taskmaster toddler of \u201cBoss Baby\u201d dethroned Disney’s \u201cBeauty and the Beast\u201d at the box office with a $49 million debut, handing its star Alec Baldwin what President Donald Trump might call a \u201chuge\u201d no. 1 opening. Paramount Pictures suffered another flop with its controversy-plagued \u201cGhost in the Shell.\u201d<\/p>\n

The DreamWorks Animation release from 20th Century Fox, starring Baldwin as a suit-clad baby, narrowly edged out the previous two-week leader, according to studio estimates Sunday. The live-action \u201cBeauty and the Beast\u201d took in $48 million in its third weekend. Final North American ticket sales will be released Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expected a decent opening. We didn’t expect to be number one,\u201d said Chris Aronson, Fox distribution chief.<\/p>\n

Despite the popularity of \u201cBeauty and the Beast\u201d (nearly $400 million domestically in 17 days, and $876.3 million globally), \u201cBoss Baby\u201d was able to attract its own family audience.<\/p>\n

Aronson credited that partly to the appeal of Baldwin, whose impression of Donald Trump on \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d has lately been ubiquitous. \u201cBoss Baby\u201d also evokes Baldwin’s old \u201cGlengarry Glen Ross\u201d character with quips like \u201cCookies are for closers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlec Baldwin’s voice is recognizable, in general. But he’s so topical now because of some of the other things he’s doing right now,\u201d said Aronson. \u201cIt’s a very distinctive voice, and if you put it on a baby, it’s funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGhost in the Shell,\u201d a remake of a classic 1995 Japanese anime film, couldn’t compete with either family-friendly release. The dystopian science-fiction thriller, starring Scarlett Johansson, opened with just $19 million, a poor showing for a film that cost about $110 million to make.<\/p>\n

Many took issue with the casting of Johansson as the cyborg protagonist who was Japanese in the original, calling it another example of Hollywood \u201cwhitewashing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had hopes for better results domestically. I think the conversation regarding casting impacted the reviews,\u201d said Kyle Davies, domestic distribution chief for Paramount. \u201cYou’ve got a movie that is very important to the fanboys since it’s based on a Japanese anime movie. So you’re always trying to thread that needle between honouring the source material and make a movie for a mass audience. That’s challenging but clearly the reviews didn’t help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Audiences appeared to agree with critics, giving the film a mediocre B CinemaScore.<\/p>\n

\u201cGhost in the Shell\u201d will instead hope to find more eager moviegoers in Japan (where the casting controversy has not resonated) and China next weekend. Opening in most other international countries this weekend, \u201cGhosts in the Shell\u201d took in a modest $40.1 million.<\/p>\n

Paramount has recently suffered a string of box-office disappointments. Last week, Viacom Inc. hired former Fox film head Jim Gianopulos to turn around its film division.<\/p>\n

In limited release, Focus Features’ \u201cThe Zookeeper’s Wife,\u201d starring Jessica Chastain, opened well with $3.3 million at 541 locations. Based on Diane Ackerman’s non-fiction book, the film is about a woman’s efforts to save Jews during the Holocaust. It will expand next weekend.<\/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. \u201cBoss Baby,\u201d $49 million ($36.5 million international).<\/li>\n
  2. \u201cBeauty and the Beast,\u201d $48 million. ($67 million international).<\/li>\n
  3. \u201cGhost in the Shell,\u201d $19 million ($40.1 million international).<\/li>\n
  4. \u201cPower Rangers,\u201d $14.5 million.<\/li>\n
  5. \u201cKong: Skull Island,\u201d $8.8 million.<\/li>\n
  6. \u201cLogan,\u201d $6.2 million.<\/li>\n
  7. \u201cGet Out,\u201d $5.8 million.<\/li>\n
  8. \u201cLife,\u201d $5.6 million<\/li>\n
  9. \u201cChips,\u201d $4.1 million.<\/li>\n
  10. \u201cThe Zookeeper’s Wife,\u201d $3.4 million.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    NEW YORK \u2013The taskmaster toddler of \u201cBoss Baby\u201d dethroned Disney’s \u201cBeauty and the Beast\u201d at the box office with a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":96495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[16125,17376,4208],"class_list":["post-96493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","tag-beauty-and-the-beast","tag-boss-baby","tag-movie","mauthors-jake-coyle","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96493","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=96493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}