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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Monday 3 June 2019
A diminished ‘Godzilla’ still

bests ‘Rocketman,’ ‘Ma’

By JAKE COYLE Part of the appeal of giant ity and drug use. John and
AP Film Writer monster films from a studio the filmmakers criticized
NEW YORK (AP) — The lat- standpoint is their popular- the move as “a sad reflec-
est iteration of the Godzilla ity in Asia. This “Godzilla” tion of the divided world
franchise took over the top fared best in China, open- we still live in.”
spot from “Aladdin” and ing there with $70 million. It Though “Rocketman”
roared louder than Elton made $130 million interna- shares much with “Bohe-
John at the weekend box tionally overall. mian Rhapsody” — includ-
This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Vera office, but it still left a no- But in Godzilla, some see ing Fletcher, who helmed
Farmiga, left, and Millie Bobby Brown in a scene from “Godzilla: tably smaller footprint on a flagging franchise of the Mercury film after Bryan
King of the Monsters.” North American theaters unrealized potential. In its Singer departed produc-
Associated Press than its city-wrecking pre- three recent blockbuster tion — its makers have
decessors. iterations going back to sought to distance it from
“Godzilla: King of the Mon- Gareth Edwards’ 1998 Sony last year’s Oscar-winning
sters,” Warner Bros. and release, none have drawn $900-million sensation.
Legendary Entertainment’s much praise from fans or “That movie is a unicorn,”
sequel to 2014’s “Godzilla,” critics. Egerton said in Cannes.
was brought down to size This latest one, directed by “Our movie is a different
by poor reviews and mid- Michael Dougherty, has a animal.”
dling interest from movie- 40 percent fresh rating on “Ma,” fashioned by Blum-
goers, selling $49 million in Rotten Tomatoes. house as the production
tickets, according to studio Warner Bros. is developing company’s contemporary
estimates Sunday.While still a face-off movie between answer to “Misery,” re-
good enough for No. 1, Godzilla and King Kong, teams Spencer with “The
that total was $10-15 million who was last featured in Help” director Tate Taylor.
off industry expectations “Kong: Skull Island.” That Spencer’s first solo lead
and close to half of the $93 2017 release opened with performance drew an es-
million debut of the previ- $61 million and went on to pecially diverse audience,
ous “Godzilla” movie. make $566 million world- 57 percent of which was
Still, the weekend, led by wide. female.
one of the most classic Jeff Goldstein, distribution “The best news this week-
movie monsters, brought chief for Warner Bros., be- end was for the industry it-
Hollywood’s summer sea- lieves the $200-million bud- self,” said Paul Dergarabe-
son into full swing. Last geted “King of the Mon- dian, senior media analyst
week’s top film, Disney’s sters” can keep drawing for Comscore.
live-action, blue-Will Smith moviegoers to the studio’s “Even if the top movie
“Aladdin” remake, slid to ongoing monster franchis- didn’t earn $100 million, we
second with $42 million in es. had a big up weekend and
its second weekend. “The avid fans of Godzilla we need more of those to
And a rush of newcomers, came out Thursday and Fri- get out of this deficit that
including the Elton John bi- day,” said Goldstein. “The we’ve been in since basi-
opic “Rocketman” and the real key for us is how broad- cally the beginning of the
Octavia Spencer-led horror ly can we expand over the year.”
film “Ma,” swelled theaters next couple weeks? Can The news, though, wasn’t
with a variety of options. we hold on to an interest good for “Booksmart,” the
Dexter Fletcher’s fantas- that’s wider than the regu- acclaimed teen comedy
tical Elton John biopic lar Godzilla fans? I think we starring Beanie Feldstein
“Rocketman,” starring can.” and Kaitlyn Dever. Amid its
Taron Egerton, didn’t In Godzilla’s shadow, coun- disappointing wide-release
launch with the same bra- terprogramming thrived. opening last weekend,
vado as last year’s Freddie Coming off its acclaimed director Olivia Wilde ap-
Mercury biopic “Bohemian premiere at the Cannes pealed on social media
Rhapsody.” Film Festival , “Rocketman,” for fans to support a mov-
But it opened solidly in third which Elton John executive ie “made by and about
with $25 million. The week- produced, opened well if women.”
end’s most profitable re- not spectacularly for Para- On its second weekend,
lease, by percentage, was mount Pictures. The R-rated “Booksmart” couldn’t turn
likely the Blumhouse Pro- biopic cost about $40 mil- it around, earning $3.3 mil-
duction thriller “Ma,” which lion to make. lion on 2,518 screens.
made $18.2 million against Aiming to capitalize on the Overseas, Cannes’ Palme
a $5 million budget. British singer’s worldwide d’Or winner “Parasite,” a
Even with a toothless appeal, the stars of “Rock- social satire from Korean
“Godzilla,” the weekend etman” have circled the director Bong Joon-ho,
was up drastically — 62 per- globe ahead of release. It opened with $24.6 million.
cent, according to Com- added $19.2 million inter- That was driven largely by
score — from the same nationally. stellar sales in South Ko-
weekend last year, when In Russia, the film’s local dis- rea where Bong’s raucous
the swiftly forgotten “Solo” tributor cut out scenes de- thriller easily outpaced
was in its second weekend. picting homosexual activ- “Godzilla.”q