Amazon MGM is publicly defending the Masters of the Universe opening as Saturday trade coverage hardens around a roughly 30 million dollar domestic debut against a reported budget of at least 170 million dollars.
TheWrap’s Saturday box office report calls the film “one of if not the biggest flops of the summer,” noting it is playing in 3,677 locations while Paramount/Miramax’s Scary Movie cruises to a 56 million dollar franchise-record opening at number one. Masters of the Universe carries a B CinemaScore and Rotten Tomatoes scores of 66 percent from critics and 88 percent from audiences.
Kevin Wilson, domestic distribution chief at Amazon MGM, pushed back in a statement. The weekend “represents a very solid start for Masters of the Universe,” Wilson said, pointing to “the passionate, multigenerational audience response we’re seeing around the world” and calling the opening the kind of first moment that validates the studio’s distribution strategy of building awareness that carries beyond the theatrical window.
The studio’s strongest data point is the youngest audience: kids under 12 gave the film a 96 percent definite recommend rating in PostTrak polling. TheWrap counters that the film needs to reach well beyond nostalgic Gen X men to recoup its production spend, and that crowded competition from Scary Movie, Backrooms and the upcoming Spielberg release leaves little room for word of mouth to spread.
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