Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” opened to a sterling $6.3 million in Thursday previews, as the video game adaptation looks to outrace “Morbius” and “The Batman” at the box office. It won’t have much trouble lapping Universal’s “Ambulance,” the weekend’s other new release, which is expected to debut to $10 million, a disappointing result for a Michael Bay production. “Sonic Part Deux” should bow to $55 million or more. “Ambulance” struggled in previews, netting a paltry $700,000.
“Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” a big screen version of the Sega game series about a supersonic critter, brings back Ben Schwartz as the voice of the titular spiny mammal, as well as James Marsden and Jim Carrey. It may also serve as a sendoff to Carrey, one of the biggest box office draws of the nineties and early aughts, who has said he’s stepping away from acting.
“”Sonic the Hedgehog 2” carries a $90 million price tag, far more than the $40 million that Bay spent on “Ambulance.” The action-thriller stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Eiza González and centers on a pair of adoptive siblings who hijack an ambulance while trying to pull of a bank heist. Critics were mixed on what Bay, the purveyor of magic hour pyrotechnics in films like “Bad Boys” and “The Rock,” has put on screen. Variety‘s Owen Gleiberman declared that “‘Ambulance’ is simply too much of a not-so-good thing. It never stops huffing and puffing to entertain you, but it’s joyless: a tale of escape that’s far from a great escape, because for all its motion it’s going through the motions.”
Not that every reviewer was busy busting out the superlatives for Sonic either. Variety‘s Peter Debruge wrote that the film was overly long, griping that “an hour and a half would’ve been a perfectly fine run time, whereas at two hours and change, ‘Sonic 2’ wears out its welcome well before it turns into yet another phone-it-in franchise entry.”
‘Sonic The Hedgehog 2’ Races To $6.2M In Previews
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 grossed $6.25M in previews from Wednesday fan screenings and Thursday showtimes that started at 3 PM. The film is expected to make north of $50M this weekend. Universal/Endeavor Content’s Ambulance is not looking great at $700K last night from 2,800 theaters that started at 7PM.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2‘s Thursday was $5M, 66% higher than the first 2020 movie’s $3M Thursday previews, which started at 5PM. That movie opened saw a $20.9M opening day, of which previews only accounted 14% of, and a $58M 3-day, $70M four-day weekend before finaling at $148.9M. The movie’s legs were indeed impacted then by the onset of the pandemic, and exhibition closing nationwide.
In regards to Ambulance, the good news is that it’s double the preview number of Universal’s previous action dud The 355 which did $350K at 2,300 theaters that began at 7PM on its Thursday. The irony here with Ambulance is that it’s director Michael Bay’s best reviewed movie of his career, tied with The Rock which also was 68% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and the movie isn’t going to make it to double digits in its opening. The logical question is why wasn’t this sent to Peacock, day-and-date. I understand that Universal wanted to be in the Bay business, and made a negative pickup here from Endeavor Content, who financed the Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Eiza González for an estimated $40M. The only bragging rights here for Universal is that the movie was cheap. After the pic’s disastrous $20M foreign box office result in 59 territories, Uni is already dealing with the reality that this vehicle is broken.
Among regular movies in release, Sony’s Morbius did $1.3M yesterday ending its week with an estimated $46.9M. The movie is expected to decline 65% in weekend 2 given its genre nature. Paramount’s The Lost City did $1.1M, -8% from Wednesday, for a second week estimated at $19.9M and two-week total of $59.7M. Warner Bros.’ The Batman did $745K, -7% from Wednesday ending its fifth week with $14.3M, and a running total of $352.5M. Sony’s Uncharted did $303K in its 7th Thursday for a week ending of $5M and a running total of $140.3M.
Meanwhile, A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once is the little engine that could. The movie did $113K at its current 38 week 2 locations, and another $530K in previews (all in Thursday $643K) heading into its 1,200 theater expansion, bringing the movie’s running total to $2.8M. This is a very promising result for specialty cinemas.
The 25th Anniversary of Jennifer Lopez movie Selena from Iconic ranked 5th yesterday with an estimated $216K at 308 locations, we hear. This is not a one night only event, but will continue in upcoming weeks.
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