‘Lyle, Lyle’ Stumbles, ‘Amsterdam’ Flops And ‘Terrifier 2’ Tops $1 Million

In new release news at the domestic box office, Columbia and Sony’s Lyle, Lyle Crocodile opened with a frankly disappointing $11.5 million Fri-Sun frame. To be fair, Sony is projecting a $13.4 million Fri-Mon weekend (tomorrow is Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day), but frankly that would still be a little underwhelming if it was just the Fri-Sun frame. Sure, we all celebrated in February of 2021 when Tom & Jerry opened to $14 million. That was the first sign of Covid-era theatrical life, and it was the definition of a ‘successful disappointment,’ namely a film performing in Covid times as well as it would have underwhelmed under conventional circumstances. We’re close enough to traditional circumstances not to grade the Javier Bardem/Constance Wu (who was on her way to becoming a butts-in-seats star before Covid) family-friendly comedy on such a curve.

That’s on par with Sony’s Peter Rabbit: The Runaway, which opened with $10.1 million in June of 2021 under different Covid-specific circumstances. Alas, this seems to be a scenario where just because audiences wanted to see Peter Rabbit (a $25 million debut in early 2018) does not mean they were excited about another ‘animated animal interacting with live-action humans’ fantasy. Based on Bernard Waber’s 1965 picture book of the same name, Lyle, Lyle Crocodile doesn’t have the brand awareness/interest of something like Clifford the Big Red Dog or Paddington. While reviews were generally okay (68% fresh but 5.6/10 on Rotten Tomatoes, showing that the Tomatometer only tells half the story), it isn’t drawing anyone outside of the ‘kids and their parents’ demographics. Having songs from the guys who did The Greatest Showman didn’t help this film any more than it aided last year’s Dear Evan Hanson.

I was hoping this one would ‘overperform,’ partially because both Peter Rabbit movies were pretty good and because there hasn’t been a big kids flick since DC League of Super Pets in late July ($91 million from a $23 million debut). It is the only specifically-for-kids flick in theaters between now and Walt Disney’sDIS
Strange World, so legs on par with the first Peter Rabbit ($110 million/$25 million) or even Peter Rabbit 2 ($40 million/$10 million) wouldn’t shock me. I have no idea how this one will perform overseas. It doesn’t have Paddington or Peter Rabbit’s British popularity. It’s just as likely that it’ll merely leg like Clifford the Big Red Dog ($49 million from a $16.6 million Fri-Sun and $22 million Wed-Sun debut) and end up over/under $35 million domestic. At worst, it’s a minor miss that will play very well on NetflixNFLX
in seven months.

20th Century Studios’ $80 million Amsterdam (review) tanked, earning just $6.5 million in its domestic opening weekend. I immensely enjoyed this star-packed (Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Taylor Swift and Robert De Niro, among others) 1930’s comedy thriller. I’d argue it’s Russell’s best film since Three Kings. However, I’m in the critical minority (33% and 5.1/10 on Rotten Tomatoes). Moreover, this isn’t late 2013. Audiences no longer show up for a vaguely defined adult-skewing crime dramedy like American Hustle ($250 million worldwide) just because it looks snazzy and has lots of movie stars (Bale, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence, etc.). To be fair, American Hustle sold sex, while Amsterdam sold farce. The marketing was somewhat vague about the actual plot, partially because explaining what the movie is eventually about in terms of real-world history would be equivalent to giving away the core mystery.

Moreover, audiences no longer go to the movies to go to the movies. Unless you’re Leonardo DiCaprio or Sandra Bullock, you’re at best an added value element and/or playing a marquee character somewhat tied to your onscreen (Tom Holland in Uncharted) or offscreen (Lady Gaga in A Star Is Born) personas. This is little different than the late-2021 failures theatrical of (offhand) The Last Duel, Last Night in Soho and King Richard. It’s still a tragedy, no matter what you think about David O. Russell’s on-set behavior (allegedly quite volatile) or whether you liked the movie. Disney spent the money and did the work, and both audiences and critics rejected this old-school studio programmer. Its (arguably inevitable) failure will only further the notion of turning formally-Fox into anything more than a content mill for Hulu (save for a few franchises like Planet of the Apes, Avatar and Deadpool).

Focus Features released Todd Field’s Tár in just four theaters. The acclaimed and buzzy Cate Blanchett-starring melodrama about a world-class conductor earned $160,000 for a $40,000 per-theater average. I’m reluctant to presume it will play beyond the film nerd/arthouse crowd, but it’ll expand into 30 more theaters this Friday and go wide on the 28th. It’s on my list but got triaged. I figured I could either race out to Century City on Friday and feel bad that I couldn’t pick my kids up from school or wait and enjoy myself. In other Oscar news, Bloody Disgusting released Damien Leone’s 138-minute, unrated Terrifier 2 (review) in 850 theaters for a Thurs-Mon theatrical engagement. The (comparatively superior) sequel to a cult killer clown movie earned $480,000 on Thursday and $1 million over the weekend. This, despite generally playing one or two evening shows per theater. That’ll do, Art (the Clown). That’ll do.