Spielberg ‘West Side Story’ debuts weakly with $10.5M
NEW YORK — Despite critical acclaim and two years worth of anticipation, Steven Spielberg’s lavish “West Side Story” revival made little noise at the box office, debuting with $10.5 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday — a worrisome result for a movie industry struggling to recapture its finger-snapping rhythm.
A dazzling widescreen adaptation and Spielberg’s first musical, “West Side Story” was one of the year’s most eagerly awaited titles. With a script by Tony Kushner and Rita Moreno returning to her breakthrough film 60 years later, the $100 million “West Side Story” epitomizes a grand-scale prestige film that Hollywood infrequently produces anymore. It hit theaters on a wave of glowing reviews and expectations that it could play a starring role in March’s Academy Awards.
But “West Side Story” faced a challenging marketplace for both adultdriven releases and musicals. Audiences have steadily returned to multiplexes in the second year of the pandemic, but older moviegoers, who made up the bulk of ticket-buyers for Spielberg’s latest, have been among the slowest to return.
“West Side Story“can still be expected to play well through the lucrative holiday corridor, during which youngerskewing films like “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (expected to next weekend become the first pandemic release to open with $100 million or more domestically) and “Sing 2” will likely be the top draws. Film executives are hoping the spreading omicron variant of COVID-19 doesn’t set the box office back just as Hollywood is nearing its most profitable period.
But the muted reception for “West Side Story” will concern the industry. Hopes had long been pinned on Spielberg, with his song-and-dance spectacular, to bring back some of the movies’ mojo. Instead, little right now outside of Marvel releases is finding big audiences. Many moviegoers simply haven’t returned yet.
“To draw moviegoers to adult dramas in huge numbers right now seems like a pretty heavy lift,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for data firm Comscore. “That will wane over time, but it is concerning for filmmakers and studios.”
The weekend’s only other new wide release — STX Films’ college football drama “National Champions” — went largely unnoticed, pulling in $300,000 in 1,197 theaters.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. “West Side Story,“$10.5 million.
2. “Encanto,” $9.4 million.
3. “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” $7.1 million.
4. “House of Gucci,” $4.1 million.
5. “Eternals,” $3.1 million.
6. “Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City,” $1.7 million.
7. “Clifford the Big Red Dog,” $1.3 million.
8. “Christmas With the Chosen,” $1.3 million.
9. “Dune,” $857,000.
10. “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” $850,000.