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Weekend Box Office: 'King Arthur' Is Summer's 1st Flop

Weekend Box Office: 'King Arthur' Is Summer's 1st Flop
(IMDb)

By    |   Monday, 15 May 2017 11:08 AM EDT

In this weekend's movie box office, "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" was crowned as the summer's first flop, pulling in a meager $14.7 million after Warner Bros. spent $175 million to make the updated version of the classic.

"King Arthur" opened in 3,702 theaters around the country, Deadline.com reported, but received a 27 percent rating on the website Rotten Tomatoes. The movie stars former "Sons of Anarchy" star Charlie Hunnam and Jude Law, but still could not attract a big audience.

The movie was directed by Guy Ritchie with the screenplay by Ritchie and Joby Harold.

"King Arthur" was beaten out by Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2," which pulled in $63 million in its second week in theaters and the Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn-driven "Snatched," which attracted $17.5 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

The Hollywood Reporter pointed out that the film only made $29.1 million in its first 51 foreign markets, including just $5 million in China.

"It isn't particularly surprising that 'King Arthur' flopped in North America," a Wall Street analyst of MKM Partners told The Hollywood Reporter. "I don't remember the last time a medieval film was successful in this market. The story just doesn't seem to resonate here anymore and someone tries to resurrect it seemingly every five to 10 years. What I did find surprising was the weak numbers internationally, particularly in Europe."

The Hollywood Reporter said most studio insiders were nervous about how "King Arthur" would fare after several delays and Warner Bros. track history with similar movies like 2013's "Jack the Giant Slayer" and 2015's "Pan."

"'King Arthur' is a paint-by-numbers Hollywood disaster — wrong director, wrong cast, wrong script, etc.," box office analyst Jeff Bock told The Hollywood Reporter. "The whole 'Game of Thrones'-on-steroids direction the studio went with from the get-go just didn't get anyone psyched to see this."

Variety reported that Warner Bros. will have a shot to get back on its feet with the anticipated "Wonder Woman" hitting theaters June 2 and World War II movie "Dunkirk" on July 21.

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TheWire
In this weekend's movie box office, "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" was crowned as the summer's first flop, pulling in a meager $14.7 million after Warner Bros. spent $175 million to make the updated version of the classic.
weekend, box office, king arthur, flop
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2017-08-15
Monday, 15 May 2017 11:08 AM
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