North American weekend box office: Spielberg’s new film “West Side Story” won the premiere for only $10.5 million
China News Agency, San Francisco, December 12th. The musical “West Side Story” directed by Spielberg was released in North America this weekend and only earned $10.5 million at the box office. It topped the North American weekend box office rankings by a narrow margin.
According to data from the North American box office statistics website “boxofficemojo.com”, “West Side Story” was screened in 2,820 theaters in North America during its premiere weekend, earning $10.5 million in box office. In 37 markets outside of North America, the film only earned $4.4 million, and the global box office reached $14.9 million. For this film with a budget of 100 million U.S. dollars, there is still a long way to go to recover the cost. Next week, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” will be released in North American theaters, which will undoubtedly affect the revenue of “West Side Story”.
“West Side Story” is adapted from the Broadway classic musical of the same name. The story is set in New York in the 1950s. White gangs and Puerto Rican gangs are hostile to each other and often clash. A man and a woman from both sides fell in love at first sight, but it ended in tragedy. As a milestone in the history of Broadway musicals, “West Side Story” has been enduring since its performance in the United States in 1957, winning 7 awards including the Tony Award and the Oliver Award. In 1961, the film version of “West Side Story” was released and won 10 Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director the following year.
Because of the status of “West Side Story” in musical and film history, Spielberg’s new film will undoubtedly become one of the most watched films in the North American market in 2021. This film, which was not a hit during its premiere weekend, gained a good reputation. As of the evening of the 12th, “West Side Story” had 245 reviews on the review site “Rotten Tomatoes”, with a score of 93%, and more than 1,000 viewers also gave a high score of 95%. On the review site “CinemaScore”, the film received an “A” rating.
Affected by “West Side Story”, the top three films on the ranking list last week ranked second, third, and fourth respectively. The animated film “Full House of Magic” created by Disney was released in 3750 theaters in North America, and the box office fell 28.3% to US$9.4 million, ranking second on the list. In the three weeks since its release, the total box office of “Full House” in North America has reached 71.3 million U.S. dollars, and the cumulative global box office has exceeded 150 million U.S. dollars.
In the fourth week of its release, “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” (Ghostbusters: Afterlife) was released in 3,815 theaters in North America, and the box office fell 31.5%, ranking third with $7.1 million. At present, the total box office of the film in North America has reached 112 million U.S. dollars, and the total global box office has reached 164.7 million U.S. dollars.
In the third week of the screening, “House of Gucci”, directed by Ridley Scott and starring many stars including Lady Gaga, Adam Driver and Al Pacino, ranked fourth in the rankings. The film, based on real historical figures, was shown in 3,407 theaters in North America this week and won nearly $4.1 million in box office, a drop of 42%. At present, the film with a production budget of 75 million US dollars has a total of 41 million US dollars in the box office in North America and 93 million US dollars in the global box office. (Finish)