'Pan' Movie Review: Peter Pan Origin Story Flops in Box Office, Overpowered By 'The Martian'
Looks like "Pan" missed the treasure trove in its Columbus Day weekend debut.
The big-budget Peter Pan origin story entered the box office with a pathetic $15.5 million despite Warner Bros.' $150 million production budget and according to The Hollywood Reporter, the ambitious retelling of Peter's story is expected to lose about $130 million to $150 million.
The PG-friendly movie failed to spark interest among viewers in its debut as the movie-goers continue to line up for Matt Damon's "The Martian" which steadily bombs the box office two weeks after its release. To date, the sci-fi film directed by Ridley Scott has recently earned an extra $37 million in its second week, hence earning a total of $108.7 million in North America alone.
But it's not only in North America that the Hugh Jackman movie has been making paltry earnings. According to a Variety report, "Pan" failed to enchant foreign viewers, earning only $20.5 million worldwide as it was released in 52 countries. Globally, "Pan" has hit $40.6 million but a lot of work has to be done in order for Warner Bros. to release another Peter Pan-related story as it was also reported that at least $400 million earning is needed to recuperate from the flop.
Variety also reports that "Pan" received a warm welcome in Mexico and Russia, offering $2.7 million and $21.1 million gross respectively. Its debut in Latin America is so-so while reception in Europe is struggling, The Hollywood Reporter says.
In another Variety report, the movie's dismaying box office fiasco ranks itself along "Tomorrowland" and "The Fantastic Four" which makes up the list of this year's "most punishing flops."
Film critics described the movie to be a hybrid of Indiana Jones and Avatar and Hugh Jackman's character, Blackbeard, was seen to be identical with the "Mad Max: Fury Road" antagonist, Immortan Joe.
One executive from the studio's competitor even told The Hollywood Reporter that the movie is "trying to be too many things."
"Tough reviews, a change of release date and other factors conspired to create this opening weekend performance. Certainly, while the origin story concept in and of itself is not a bad thing, audiences may have had trouble grasping the concept of the film," Senior Media Analyst for Rentrak, Paul Dergarabedian, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Warner Bros. is yet to give comments regarding the movie's performance, however, one executive from the studio said "it came in so much lighter than anything we could have predicted. The movie failed to bring in an audience of any size."
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