“King Arthur: Legend of the Sword” is summer’s second major flop, following “Power Rangers.”
Warner Bros. had high expectations with the movie as it spent over $170 million on production and up to $120 million on international marketing. The film, however, could not gross more than $1.2 million in the opening weekend at the global box office. It earned only $1 million from the United States and Canada, while the rest of amount came from international markets.
Analysts expected that “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword” will gross $30 million this weekend, but the movie failed to impress the audiences.
On the other hand, the studio claims that it needs strong foreign audiences to turn out in force if it wants to avoid the sea of red ink. So far, “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword” is available in 2,301 theaters in the United States and Canada, while the film has not opened in China and Japan.
'King Arthur' plunges 62 percent, 'Snatched' drops 54%
Though “King Arthur” is a major flop this year, the film plunges up to 62% and “Snatched drops by 54%. Fox and Chernin Entertainment’s thriller ”Snatched” was expected to earn $26 million this million, but the movie made only $10 million. The R-rated comedy cost Fox over $40 million to produce, and more than $15 million for marketing and promotions.
In 2009, Ritchie’s movie “Sherlock Holmes” earned up to $205 million domestically and over $523 million.
Its 2011 sequel titled “A Game of Shadows” made $186 million domestically and $540 million internationally. The latest Ritchie movie, “The Man From Uncle,” flopped when it debuted in 2015 and could earn only $79 million at the global box office.
In terms of its Thursday night previews, “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword” was projected to earn $87 million, but the film made only $54 million.
On the other hand, Disney’s animated movie “Aladdin” did better business than both “King Arthur” and “The Man from UNCLE.” The film earned $13 million on the very first day of its release.
Critical response to the movie
Neither “Snatched” nor “King Arthur” received positive comments from critics. Peter Debruge from Variety has said that Ritchie’s latest film is nothing more than a piece of crab.
The top holdover is none other than Disney's thriller “Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2,” which grossed $80 million in its third weekend. “The Avengers” is placed second as the movie earned $76 million in the second weekend.
Disney has scheduled “Pirates 5” and “Cars 3” for summer 2017. Hopefully, the two movies will break the records of previous blockbusters, including “Galaxy Volume 2,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and “The Fate of the Furious.” On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword” has a rating of 29% based on 189 critics, while Metacritic assigns it a score of 40 out of 100 based 144 reviews.
