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A30 PEOPLE/ARTS
Monday 9 october 2017
‘Blade Runner 2049’ pulls in

older guys, but few others

By JAKE COYLE too, giving it an A- Cine- the numbers everyone
AP Film Writer maScore. Representatives thought.”
NEW YORK (AP) — “Blade for Alcon Entertainment In a way, that makes “Blade
Runner 2049” had the pedi- didn’t respond to messag- Runner 2049” the perfect
gree, the stars and the stel- es Sunday. heir to the original film. It,
lar reviews. “I’m disappointed we too, was a box-office dis-
But even though the highly didn’t have a larger result appointment.
touted sequel had seem- this weekend on behalf of Though a cult would grad-
ingly everything going for it, the owners of the film, Al- ually emerge over the
something didn’t click with con” said Jeff Goldstein, years, propelled partly by
audiences. president of domestic distri- a DVD release of a more
This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Ryan Gos- The big-budget, hand- bution for Warner Bros. “We acclaimed director’s cut,
ling, left, and Harrison Ford in a scene from “Blade Runner 2049.” somely crafted sequel had bigger expectations “Blade Runner” in 1982 de-
Associated Press
to the 1982 sci-fi classic for the weekend. The track- buted with $6.2 million — or
opened surprisingly weak ing and the advance sales about $16 million in 2017
at the North American box indicated that there would dollars.
office. According to studio be a stronger number.” So “2049” can claim one
estimates Sunday, “2049” The Kate Winslet-Idris Elba thing many recent sequels
grossed $31.5 million, a adventure romance “The can’t: Better box office
poor start for a movie that Mountain Between Us” de- than the original.q
cost at least $150 million to buted in second place with ___
make. $10.1 million. The 20th Cen- Estimated ticket sales for Fri-
The problem “Blade runner tury Fox film, which cost $35 day through Sunday at U.S.
2049” ran into is clear from million to make, chronicles and Canadian theaters
opening-weekend data. the budding affection be- according to comScore.
The audience was over- tween two strangers whose Where available, the latest
whelmingly male (71 per- charter plane crash lands international numbers also
cent) and over the age of in the mountains. are included.
25 (86 percent). The horror hit “It” followed Final domestic figures will
The movie, starring Ryan in third place with $9.7 mil- be released Monday.
Gosling and Harrison Ford, lion in its fifth week. 1. “Blade Runner 2049,”
simply failed to pull in mov- The Stephen King adapta- $31.5 million.
iegoers beyond fans of the tion has made $603.7 mil- 2. “The Mountain Between
1982 original. lion worldwide. Us,” $10.1 million.
The opening was a blow “My Little Pony: The Movie” 3. “It,” $9.7 million.
most of all to Alcon Enter- opened with $8.8 million for 4. “My Little Pony: The Mov-
tainment, the production Lionsgate. But even it man- ie,” $8.8 million.
company that split the aged broader gender ap- 5. “Kingsman: The Golden
film’s cost with Sony Pic- peal than “Blade Runner Circle,” $8.1 million.
tures. Warner Bros., which 2049.” 6. “American Made,” $8.1
released the original and It drew a 59 percent fe- million.
maintained rights for any male audience. 7. “The Lego Ninjago Mov-
follow-ups, distributed do- But most were wonder- ie,” $6.8 million.
mestically. ing what went wrong with 8. “Victoria & Abdul,” $4.1
Sony released the film inter- “Blade Runner 2049.” Work- million.
nationally. ing against it was a lengthy 9. “Flatliners,” $3.8 million.
The 20-year-old Alcon, 163-minute runtime. (Ville- 10. “Battle of the Sexes,” $2.
backed by FedEx founder neuve attempted to less- 4 million.
Fred Smith, has been be- en the blow by promoting ___
hind some notable suc- the credit-less runtime of Follow AP Film Writer Jake
cesses with Warner Bros. 152 minutes.) Alcon took Coyle on Twitter at: http://
(“The Blind Side,” ‘’Prison- the lead on the market- twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
ers”). But its blockbuster ing, which went to great
ambitions —which include lengths to keep much of
flops like “Point Break” and the film mysterious.
“Transcendence” — have “It’s an intellectually
been rockier. Co-founder charged, apocalyptic sci-
Andrew Kosove previ- fi story. It’s not a ‘Close
ously called the ambitious Encounters,’ it’s not ‘Star
“Blade Runner 2049” ‘’a Wars.’ It’s a challenging
chips-in-the-center-of-the- film.
table exercise.” To me, those are the best
And they seemingly did ev- type of films,” said Paul Der-
erything right, turning in a garabedian, senior media
glowingly reviewed film, di- analyst at comScore. “But
rected by the sought-after does it make it the most
Denis Villeneuve (“Arrival”) commercial? No.”
and produced by Ridley “It was creatively and
Scott (who directed the thematically perfectly ex-
original). ecuted,” Dergarabedian
Audiences liked the movie, said. “But it didn’t play to