‘Guardians 2’ still rules
‘Snatched’ grabs second place; ‘King Arthur’ flops at the box office
LOS ANGELES The first major box-office flop of the summer movie season has arrived. Studio estimates Sunday say director Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword opened to a bleak $14.7 million from more than 3,700 locations against a costly $175 million production budget.
The gritty reimagining of the Excalibur myth starring Charlie Hunnam as Arthur debuted in third place behind box-office leader Guardians of the Galaxy
Vol. 2 and Snatched at No. 2. The raunchy, R-rated Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn comedy opened with $17.5 million.
Marvel and Disney’s Guardians collected $63 million and has earned $246.2 million domestically in just two weeks.
It was down just 57% from last weekend and is proving to be the only film in theaters capable of drawing mass audiences.
Rounding out the top five were holdovers The Fate of the Furious, the eighth installment in the Fast
and Furious franchise, with $5.3 million, and Alec Baldwin’s The
Boss Baby with $4.6 million. “The newcomers definitely had a tough time. ... For most general audiences, Guardians remains the go-to movie,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore. Neither King Arthur nor
Snatched was well-received by critics or audiences, giving Arthur a B-plus grade on CinemaScore and Snatched a B.
Results were mixed for the newcomers with limited releases.
The sniper drama The Wall, starring WWE fighter John Cena as an American soldier, took in a tepid $891,590 from 541 locations. Better off was the East L.A. car-culture drama Lowriders, with Eva Longoria and Demián Bichir, which opened in only 295 theaters and still managed to take eighth place with $2.4 million. Next weekend Ridley Scott’s
Alien: Covenant will aim to scare Guardians out of first place. Final figures are expected Monday.