‘Alita’ leads a slow Presidents Day box office weekend

LOS ANGELES >> The sci-fi fantasy “Alita: Battle Angel” topped the charts and beat out a number of newcomers including the meta romantic comedy “Isn’t It Romantic” and the horror sequel “Happy Death Day 2U” in its first weekend in theaters, but it is a victory with a few caveats. It’s leading the slowest Presidents Day weekend at the box office in almost 20 years and has a ways to go to make up its costly budget.

20th Century Fox said Sunday that the James Cameron-produced film earned an estimated $27.8 million over the weekend against a reported

$170 million budget, which includes cost-saving tax incentives and rebates. It’s made $36.5 million total since its debut Thursday.

Robert Rodriguez directed the future-set film starring Rosa Salazar as a cyborg with no memory of her past. Critics were mixed on the results, and it’s become just the latest pricey and ambitious non-Star Wars, non-Marvel or DC sci-fi film to do less-than-stellar business at the box office, the last being the Peter Jackson-produced “Mortal Engines.”

It is quite a tumble (56.4 percent) from last year’s record Presidents Day box office when “Black Panther” grossed $202 million over the threeday weekend and propelled the industry total to $286.6 million. The weekend has in recent years been host to the openings of high earners from “Deadpool” to “Fifty Shades of Grey.” This year, total weekend earnings amount to only $125 million.

The rest of the charts remained fairly lackluster as well. Last week’s champ, “The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part,” fell 38 percent in its second weekend earning $21.2 million, bringing its total to $62.7 million — which is less than the first film earned in its opening weekend.

Warner Bros. also had the No. 3 movie this weekend with its meta-romantic-comedy “Isn’t It Romantic,” starring Rebel Wilson as a woman