The Divergent Series: Allegiant Part 1 flops in US as Zootropolis remains on top
Story by Jack Foley
THE Divergent Series: Allegiant Part 1 has flopped upon its release in the US, opening to only $29.1 million and failing to take the No.1 spot.
The third film in the Young Adult franchise, which reunites Shailene Woodley and Theo James, also struggled internationally, where it took $22 million for a world-wide total of $82.6 million (after two weeks of international release).
Given that the film cost $110 million to make, its US box office disappointment marks Lionsgate’s second big flop of 2016, following Gerard Butler epic Gods of Egypt.
And to put the film’s under-performance further into context, The Divergent Series: Insurgent debuted to $52.3 million a year ago, while franchise starter Divergent opened to $54.6 million two years ago.
However, Lionsgate distribution president Richie Fay played down the figures, insisting that the opening was not a disaster.
He commented: “This is a solid opening. I do believe that with our audience breakdown and a decent CinemaScore, we’ll have traction and play out.”
Allegiant – Part 1 follows the continuing adventures of Tris (Woodley) and Four (James) as they escape beyond the wall that encircles Chicago to finally discover the shocking truth of what lies behind it.
While Divergent struggled, Disney Animation’s latest, Zootropolis (or Zootopia in the US), held onto the No.1 spot with $38 million. The haul ensured the film jumped the $200 million mark in North America.
And the news was even better overseas, where it earned another $64.8 million to finish Sunday with a foreign total of $389.9 million and global haul of $591.7 million.
Its gross of $173.4 million in China means that it has now become the most successful animated film of all time in the Middle Kingdom.
The weekend’s other big new release was Miracles From Heaven, Sony’s faith-based offering starring Jennifer Garner and Queen Latifah.
The movie, based on the memoir of the same name by Christy Beam, whose young daughter made a miraculous recovery from an incurable disease, took $15 million to land third spot. The figure marks the fourth-best start of all time for a faith-based opening.
In fourth place, meanwhile, was 10 Cloverfield Lane, the JJ Abrams-produced ‘spiritual successor’ to Cloverfield. The film took a further $12.5 million to bring its US total to $45.2 million – not bad for a movie that cost only $13 million to make.
And rounding out the US top five was superhero sensation Deadpool, which took a further $8 million in its sixth weekend for a total of $340.9 million.
The film has now leapt past Guardians of the Galaxy ($333.2 million) and Spider-Man 3 ($336.5 million) to rank as the No. 8 comic book adaptation of all time, not accounting for inflation.
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