Rangers popular, but Beast reigns

LOS ANGELES — In the battle of 1990s nostalgia, Power Rangers was no match for Beauty and the Beast, while Dax Shepard’s Chips was in seventh place.

Beauty and the Beast, the live-action remake starring Harry Potter’s Emma Watson and Legion’s Dan Stevens, pulled in $90.4 million in U.S and Canadian theaters in its second week, meeting analyst expectations. The film has brought in a total of $319 million domestically.

Meanwhile, Power Rangers landed in second place with a $40.3 million debut, beating analyst projections.

About five teenagers who must save the world from an ancient alien menace, Saban Brands’ Power Rangers is a reboot of the 1993 television phenomenon Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, which spawned a seemingly endless string of toys, follow-up seasons and a generation of kids who imitated the show’s karate moves. Twenty-four years later, the new picture features Bryan Cranston as mentor Zordon, Elizabeth Banks as extraterrestrial nemesis Rita Repulsa and an international cadre of relative newbies as the colorful teen rangers, including Chinese actor Ludi Lin, YouTube star and rapper Becky G. and British actress Naomi Scott.

But audiences and critics seem at odds with the result. While moviegoers (60 percent male; 50 percent 25 years old and over) gave the picture an A CinemaScore (and an Aplus from the 30 percent of the audience under age 18), it has only a 46 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Landing in third place was Warner Bros.’ Kong: Skull Island, in its third week, with about $14.7 million. It’s pulled in a total of $133.7 million domestically to date.

In fourth place was Columbia’s new release Life, with $12.5 million. The space thriller, about a group of astronauts on the verge of discovering life on Mars, stars Ryan Reynolds, Rebecca Ferguson and Jake Gyllenhaal.

While the film did score solid early reviews out of the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas (and a 67 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating), audiences weren’t impressed, giving the picture a C-plus CinemaScore.

Rounding out the top five was another holdover, Fox’s Logan, with $10.3 million in its fourth week. The latest in the X-Men franchise has grossed about $202 million domestically to date.

The week’s final new release, Warner Bros.’ CHiPS, landed a seventh-place finish, behind Jordan Peele’s social thriller Get Out.

The action comedy, written and directed by Parenthood star Shepard and based on the late 1970s TV show, brought in only $7.7 million. On the bright side, the reported production budget was only $25 million.

CHiPS received a B-minus CinemaScore and a 20 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Get Out made $8.9 million, for about $148 million domestic gross to date. With Peele’s film in the early weeks of its global rollout, Get Out has made $7 million internationally so far, for a worldwide total of $154.5 million. Of releases since the beginning of the year, only Beauty and the Beast, Logan and The LEGO Batman Movie have made more than Get Out domestically.

Premiering today will be Fox’s animated picture The Boss Baby and Paramount’s sci-fi flick Ghost in the Shell.

Elizabeth Banks stars as the evil Rita Repulsa in Power Rangers. It came in second at last weekend’s box office and made about $40.3 million.