‘Ford v Ferrari’ zooms to No. 1
Racing drama beats “Angels” at the box office.
NEW YORK – “Ford v Ferrari” left its competition in the rearview mirror, racing to a $31 million debut at the box office in a No. 1 finish that counted as a win for big-budget originality.
James Mangold’s racing drama rode into the weekend with strong reviews and Oscar buzz for its leads, Christian Bale and Matt Damon. And audiences gave the $98 million movie an A-plus on CinemaScore. “Ford v Ferrari,” which dramatizes the Ford Motor Co.’s push to unseat the perennial power Ferrari at France’s 24-hour Les Mans race in 1966, has been considered a rare kind of highpriced throwback built more on story, practical effects and star power than intellectual property.
Elizabeth Banks’ “Charlie’s Angels” reboot couldn’t keep up. The movie opened below expectations with $8.6
million domestically and $19.3 million overseas, according to studio estimates Sunday. It fell well short of the $40.1 million debut of the 2000’s “Charlie’s Angels,” with Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu.
“Charlie’s Angels” couldn’t best the Roland Emmerich World War II movie
“Midway” in its second week. It slotted in second, with $8.8 million.
Rounding out the rest of the top five: John Cena‘s family-friendly comedy “Playing With Fire” (No. 4 with $8.55 million) and the George Michael-inspired rom-com “Last Christmas” (No. 5 with $6.7 million).
November already has seen disappointing debuts for the sequel “Terminator: Dark Fate” ($56.9 million in three weeks) and “Doctor Sleep” ($25 million in two weeks).
That made the initial success of “Ford v Ferrari” stand out even more. The film has several laps to go before reaching profitability. But as an adult-oriented action film with excellent audience scores and awards attention, “Ford v Ferrari” is likely to play well for weeks.
“We knew that it was a real crowdpleaser. Anywhere we played it, whether at festivals or screenings, people have come out responding so positively to it.
We knew that we had a little jewel here,” says Cathleen Taff, Disney’s distribution chief.
“The Good Liar,” a mystery starring Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen, was the weekend’s other new wide release. It managed a modest $5.7 million, adding to a string of underperforming adulttargeting releases for the studio, including “Blinded by the Light,” “The Goldfinch” and “The Kitchen.”
Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for data firm Comscore, applauds “Ford v Ferrari,” but notes the industry needs much more gas to chase down a 6.1% deficit to last year’s total domestic box office.
“‘Ford v Ferrari’ may have won the race this weekend, but the industry is still trying to get out of neutral,” Dergarabedian says. Final numbers are expected Monday.