This past weekend saw the new Shane Black Predator movie debut at the box office, which really didn’t do all that well with $24 million.
The number was on par with previous Predator flicks as the Robert Rodriguez-directed Predators brought in $24.7 million back in 2010, and 2004’s Alien vs. Predator brought in $38.2 million.
Regarding why the movie didn’t do all that well at the box office, it’s possible there just isn’t a huge desire to see 80s action flicks rebooted, as 2014’s RoboCop had similar numbers with a $21.6 opening weekend.
Deadline actually offers that the younger audience wasn’t interested in the flick as males over 25 were the biggest audience, which makes sense (does the younger audience even know what a Predator is??).
We can also add the Predator Rotten Tomatoes score dropping to 34% and its CinemaScore being only being a C+ certainly didn’t help things.
On our Facebook group, we were actually following the Predator Rotten Tomatoes score, which started off a rather strong 65% or so, but then dropped as more reviews were released. I can’t help but think some of the reviews were skewed when the controversy surronding Olivia Munn came out.
Regarding Munn, she somehow found out a day or so before the movie was going to premiere that a convicted sex offender worked on the movie, which was a friend to Shane Black. So instead of promoting the movie, all the attention turned to Munn and how she felt about it. The crime took place ten years ago or so and the guy involved served his time, but with the “MeToo” movement currently going on, the scene was cut and the controversy ensued. It’s a slippery slope to be on because on one had the guy did his time and paid for his crime (which of course doesn’t excuse it), but on the other hand, who really wants to work around those sort of people? It did seem pretty convenient that Munn came out with the info the week of the movie’s premiere, which you can bet ticked off the studio, the director and some of the actors involved. It’s not like the guy committed sex crimes while doing the movie or to Olivia Munn; so why did she have to go public about it? Isn’t the guy allowed to work or have a job any more? Again, definitely a slippery slope.
That said, I don’t think the Olivia Munn controversy had a big impact on the general public going to see the movie. I think that there just wasn’t a lot of interest. Now did Olivia Munn throw the movie under the bus? I leave that for you to answer.
Would the inclusion of Arnold Schwarzenegger have made a difference? Perhaps, but Arnold recently said he turned down the movie for Terminator 6.
If you are a fan of Predator, the good news at least is the $24 million (and another $30m from foreign grosses) doesn’t kill the franchise, and much like RoboCop, the studio could always do another reboot in the future. Worth a mention is that next year Predator will be owned by Disney as well.
Predator is now out in theaters and also stars Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay, Keegan-Michael Key, Sterling K. Brown, Alfie Allen, Thomas Jane, Augusto Aguilera, Jake Busey and Yvonne Strahovski.
From the outer reaches of space to the small-town streets of suburbia, the hunt comes home in Shane Black’s explosive reinvention of the Predator series. Now, the universe’s most lethal hunters are stronger, smarter and deadlier than ever before, having genetically upgraded themselves with DNA from other species. When a young boy accidentally triggers their return to Earth, only a ragtag crew of ex-soldiers and a disgruntled science teacher can prevent the end of the human race.
