‘The Specialist’ was released in the United States a week after it was released in Spain and, as in our country, it reached number 1, but its weekend collection fell below the forecasts. kicking off the pre-summer billboard with less noise than expected.
The action comedy directed by David Leitch and starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt has raised a discreet 28 million dollars in its first weekend in the North American market, where it is shown in 4,002 movie theaters, according to data collected by Variety. Analysts gave it a premiere of between 30 and 40 million.
Technically it is not a bad figure, especially considering that it is an action film not associated with a recognized franchise (although it is loosely based on a series from the 80s, the project is perceived as an original proposal). However, things change when we look at the budget. According to Variety, ‘The Specialist’ cost $140 million, including marketing expenses. a very high outlay that poses a significant challenge when it comes to recovering the investment in the long term.
On the bright side, the film seems to be being liked quite a bit, with an encouraging A- grade on the CinemaScore website, which measures the satisfaction of the American audience, so word of mouth could give it a bit of a boost in the coming weeks. Something similar happened with Leitch’s previous action film, ‘Bullet Train’, which debuted with 30 million in the United States and ended up grossing 135.9 in its country and 239.2 worldwide.
Additionally, Universal Pictures, the distributor behind the film, relies on the international box office, where big action shows perform especially well (and if not, tell the ‘Fast & Furious’ saga). ‘The Specialist’ premiered with $25.4 million outside the United States and currently has grossed $39.9 million, bringing the global total, at the time of writing this, to $65.4 million.
Soft fall for ‘Rivals’
‘The Specialist’ overthrows ‘Rivals’, which opened last week in first place at the US box office with a discreet $15 million. Luca Guadagnino’s sports drama drops to number 3 in its second week, but it does so with a not very pronounced drop of 49% and 7.65 million moreraising its US total to 29.4 million.
Globally, the film starring and produced by Zendaya has accumulated $52 million. Taking into account that its budget was 55, a figure higher than usual for a film of its characteristics, it is not on the wrong path, but it still needs a good push to become profitable for Amazon MGM.
And what movie is in 2? Well ‘Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace’, which has returned to theaters for its 25th anniversary and It has earned 8.08 million dollars over the weekendin a re-release present in 2,700 cinemas.
