Way back in 1999, a supernatural film titled The Sixth Sense from a relatively unheard of director released to an opening weekend earnings of about $27 million in North America. Fast forward fourteen years, and the latest film After Earth of the now no longer unknown director took in $27 million too from its opening weekend. The fate of the two movies could not have been more different.
The Sixth Sense had released in only 2,161 theatres in the opening week and then slowly grew as the positive word-of-mouth propelled the movie forcefully forward. In contrast, After Earth opened in 3,401 theatres which would start declining soon. The Sixth Sense had a production budget of only $40 million, while the sci-fi After Earth has a budget of $130 million, more than three times. The Sixth Sense went on to gross $294 million in North America itself and $673 million worldwide. After Earth is not likely to find the legs to touch even $100 million in North America, and only Will Smith's international appeal can possibly save some reputation in the foreign markets. It seems M. Night Shyamalan's downward spiral as a director is refusing to slow down; when a sci-fi film with Will Smith in the cast, that looked so appealing from its trailer, and released in the prime summer time, fails, there is need for some deeper introspection here for Shyamalan. As I am yet to see the movie, I reserve my judgement on its quality, but it really did not turn out to be the life-saver one was thinking it would be.
So who performed better last weekend than After Earth? Two movies in fact. Fast & Furious 6 took a serious fall, I mean really serious, with a 65% plummet for its second weekend earnings of $35 million and yet grabbed the top spot. It still is on track to do better than Fast Five. The surprise package of the weekend was Now You See Me with $28 million opening weekend earnings on a rather packed weekend. This movie of magicians with an ensemble cast has earned better reviews than After Earth, and is in fact the strongest debut for Summit Entertainment for a non-Twilight film. Star Trek Into Darkness is inching closer to the $200 million mark in North America and while it may fall short of its predecessor Star Trek domestically, it is all set to the become the biggest movie of the franchise in worldwide revenues. Epic on the other hand is well on its way to become the weakest movie for Blue Sky Studios. So mixed tales this weekend, and one more weekend left for the movies to build in their numbers... for Man of Steel flies into the theatres pretty soon!
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