SELDOM IS the disparity between “fun” and “good” quite so heavily represented at the top of the box office as it is this November.
Over the weekend, big, colorful characters with rich histories proved popular — even though none of the top five movies at the domestic box office currently scores even as high as 60 on Metacritic.com, based on averages of professional reviews.
Universal/Illumination’s “Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch” won the weekend with a $66 million debut, despite the mixed-at-best reviews (reflected by a 50 on Metacritic and 55 percent “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes). From the public, though, “Grinch” received an “A-minus” CinemaScore and a 69 percent “liked it” audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
“Grinch” was followed at the weekend box office by Fox’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” ($30.9 million; 49 on Metacritic), continuing its success following a $51.1 million opening weekend; Paramount’s new “Overlord” ($10.1 million; 58 on Meracritic); Disney’s “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” ($9.6 million; 39 on Metacritic); and Sony’s new Dragon Tattoo movie “The Girl in the Spider’s Web” ($8.02 million; 44 on Metacritic), according to studio estimates Sunday.
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Of those films, only “Nutcracker” received below a 50 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. And all five films received at least a “B” on CinemaScore, which polls opening-night audiences.
On the global stage, this trend continues. The critically drubbed “Venom” (35 on Metacritic; 29 percent “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes) opened in China over the weekend to a massive $102 million — the second-biggest superhero debut ever in that market and the fifth-biggest opening for an import film, according to Variety.
Sony’s “Venom” has now grossed $673.5 million worldwide — already making it the seventh biggest movie of the year, as it hurtles past Disney/Marvel’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp” ($622.5 million).
Five of the year’s eight biggest movies of the year are led by Marvel comic-book characters.
With Friday’s opening of the critically lauded “Widows,” the box office should soon begin to see more overlap between what audiences and critics praise.
But for now, winning performances by kinetic actors like Tom Hardy (“Venom”) and Rami Malek (“Bohemian Rhapsody”) continue to draw filmgoing throngs to the freewheeling “fun.”
Read more:
The ‘Venom’ director’s Hollywood path began when he saw ‘Batman’ as a D.C. teenager
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