‘Great Wall’ is Matt Damon’s worst US opening in six years
LOS ANGELES: While the Zhang Yimou-directed “The Great Wall” was a hit in China, it’s been a nightmare for actor Matt Damon at the US box office.
It was his worst wide release since 2011.
With an estimated US$18,475,685 (RM83.1 million) this past weekend, “The Great Wall’s” wide release is the “Jason Bourne” actor’s lowest since “We Bought a Zoo” released in 2011.
That Cameron Crowe-directed movie, which also starred Scarlett Johansson and Elle Faning, opened to US$9,360,434 unadjusted. Even adjusted for inflation, the film only comes in slightly above US$10 million.
Damon did star in the Gus Van Sant film “Promised Land” in 2012, which opened in limited release in only 25 cinemas to US$173,915, followed by a wider expansion in 2013.
However, “Promised Land’s” expansion also only grew to include 1,676 cinemas, which is just over half of the number of cinemas both “The Great Wall” and “We Bought a Zoo” opened in (3,326 and 3,170, respectively), making the comparison to Van Sant’s film much less applicable than to Crowe’s “We Bought a Zoo”.
Every other Damon-starring film since 2011 has debuted to over US$20 million, with “Jason Bourne” performing best since then, with a US$59 million unadjusted opening.
2011 also saw three Damonstarring films outperform “The Great Wall’s” opening in their debuts — “Happy Feet Two”, “Contagion”, and “The Adjustment Bureau”, all three of which opened above US$20 million.
Although the domestic totals don’t bode well for “The Great Wall’s” performance in the US, the film’s worldwide total offers a more complete picture of the film’s performance.
To date, “The Great Wall” has amassed US$266.3 million (RM1.2 billion) worldwide, making it Damon’s 11th best performing film around the world ever.