14 DAY TRIAL // Male exotic dancers (and Channing Tatum) and Terminators lost the war at the US box office over the extended 4th of July holiday weekend, to animation and dinosaurs. This weekend is usually reserved for family releases, which explains why “Inside Out” and “Jurassic World” came on top.
Still, seeing 2 big franchises like “Terminator” and “Magic Mike” have new installments open on the 3rd and 4th spot especially on a holiday weekend is a major disappointment for studio bosses.
This might be the end for “Terminator”
Both films opened to decent-to-good reviews, but neither counted on “Jurassic World” still being around and posing a threat at the box office. Right now, this reboot of the iconic franchise is the biggest domestic seller in the US of all time, The Hollywood Reporter notes.
“Terminator: Genisys,” which brought back Arnold Schwarzenegger in his most famous role, got a 5-day premiere of $44.1 million (€40 million). This isn’t exactly pocket change, but things are not looking good for the franchise if you consider the budget of this installment and the fact that it needed to be a smashing hit for it to receive a sequel.
This is the second attempt at reviving the franchise, after “Terminator: Salvation,” which came off the resounding flop that was the third film in the original series, “Terminator: Rise of the Machines.” Based on initial numbers, it might also be the last, at least for another while.
Big movie studios are known to order sequels even for films that perform under expectations, like it happened with Sony’s “Amazing Spider-Man.” The condition they have to meet is that they receive good reviews and feedback from the fans. “Genisys” didn’t get that, in addition to not making as much money as it should have.
“Magic Mike” isn’t so magic anymore
“Magic Mike XXL,” that stripper movie all women and many men couldn’t stop talking about, opened to better reviews but more underwhelming ticket sales. It made $27.1 million (€24.5 million) over the 5-day holiday weekend.
This film was made on a considerably smaller budget than “Terminator,” so in the end, it will probably make a profit.
However, it was a bigger disappointment: hype for it was huge before release, fueled in part by Channing Tatum’s intense promotion of it, including on covers of magazines like Vanity Fair and People.
“XXL” had everything going for it: Channing, a successful original film praised by both the critics and the fans, a bigger cast, a more outrageous story, even more outrageous choreography, and a slightly bigger budget.
By all accounts, it should have come at the top of the box office, but didn’t.