The weekend box office numbers are in, and it’s good news forTate Taylor’s adaptation ofThe Girl on the Train. The movie grossed a solid $24.7 million over the weekend. While that’s far shy of the $37 million thatGone Girlmade over the same weekend two years ago, it’s still not a bad debut, especially when you consider thatGone Girlhad better reviews. Additionally,The Girl on the Trainwas made for less than $50 million, so it should be a modest hit for Universal. However, it may have some trouble staying strong at the box office. The movie only scored a B- CinemaScore rating, and the funny thing about CinemaScore is that anything less than an A- is not great. It may as well be a pass/fail system.The Girl on the Traincould have legs in the weeks ahead, but don’t be surprised if it drops off.
WhileThe Girl on the Trainhums along to the #1 spot, all eyes are onThe Birth of a Nation, and what it means going forward for Fox Searchlight,Nate Parker, and Sundance movies. To be clear, let’s not assume that the film only pulled in $7 million this weekend because people don’t want to see movies about slavery. If a film deals with slavery, has a black protagonist, and is critically acclaimed,12 Years a Slave(also released by Fox Searchlight) tells us that it can go onto gross $187 million worldwide. In 2013,12 Years a Slavehad a limited release in mid-October and then went wide in November. Granted, it was powered by a successful awards run, but it’s also a great movie.
The Birth of a Nationencountered three glaring problems. First, obviously, was the backlash against Parker as the rape allegations against him and his co-writer Jean McGianni Celestin surfaced shortly after the film was purchased at Sundance. IfThe Birth of a Nationchanges anything, it will be that no studio will throw down millions of dollars at a film festival without first reading the director’s Wikipedia page.
Second, the acclaim at Sundance invited closer scrutiny, and what critics found was a film that was not as well made as12 Years a Slaveor really anything warranting the biggest purchase in Sundance history. The film also held up Nat Turner as a figure of hero worship rather than delving into the complexities of slave life.
The first two problems conflated into the third problem: Nate Parker, an alleged rapist, cast himself as a character who is motivated by the rape of Nat Turner’s wife to lead a rebellion. That’s a lot of baggage for a film to carry, and it should really make studios think twice about the cynical calculus of purchasing a film just because it looks like an easy contender for Oscars. IfThe Birth of a Nationhad been a hit this weekend, its Oscar chances would still be alive. That being said, it could have legs (it receive an ‘A’ CinemaScore), but I doubt it will be a player in this year’s Oscar race (if voters want to combat #OscarsSoWhite, I predict they’ll supportDenzel Washington’sFences).
Finally, the weekend’s other new release was the YA comedyMiddle School: The Worst Years of My Life, which pulled in $6.9 million from2,822 theaters. It received an A- CinemaScore, and you will have forgotten about it by the time you finish reading this sentence.
Check out the weekend’s Top 10 below:
The Girl on the Train
$24,660,000
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
$51,053,483
Deepwater Horizon
$38,518,388
The Magnificent Seven
$75,915,393
$50,118,494
The Birth of a Nation
$7,100,000
Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life
$6,900,000
$113,485,432
Masterminds
$12,788,325
Queen of Katwe
$5,384,636
