Are you a movie producer? Want to make a hit movie? Hire Tom Hanks and force him to take a really terrible trip.
In Castaway, Hanks’ FedEx plane crashes and leaves him stranded on a deserted island. It earned $233.6 million. Apollo 13 had Hanks almost die during a trip to the moon: $173.8 million. More recently Hanks played Captain Phillips, where his cargo ship was taken over by pirates: $107.1 million. Every terrible trip Hanks takes seems to be a very lucrative outing for moviemakers—often opening at No. 1 at the box office.
Now Hanks is Captain Chesley Sullenberger, central figure in another plane crash story and titular hero in the movie Sully. And guess where it sits? At no. 1, of course, earning an estimated $35.5 million in its first weekend in theaters. Just call Hanks the Master of Disaster.
The rest of the weekend’s new releases, on the other hand, were simply disasters.
Granted, the news wasn’t all bad. When the Bough Breaks, another new release, finished second to Sully, sneaking into the silver medal spot with $15 million. Considering Sony only spent $10 million to make the thing, Bough qualifies as a bundle of joy for its makers. But let’s be honest: In Hollywood’s inflated currency, $15 million isn’t typically enough to even make a bough bend. Also, it’s one of two new movies this week that logged a scathing 0% “freshness” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Last week’s champ Don’t Breathe is turning a little blue after three weeks of release. It earned $8.2 million to finish third. Meanwhile, the motley crew of the Suicide Squad continues to run free through the Top Five, banking another $5.7 million for fourth.
The Lionsgate animated feature The Wild Life proved to be pretty tame out of the gate, earning just $3.4 million to barely sneak into the Top Five. Still, it did better than The Disappointments Room. The semi-supernatural chiller left audiences cold, collecting just $1.4 million to stuff in its bat-infested wardrobe and locking The Disappointments Room in a truly terrifying 17th place. Given that this is the weekend’s other new release with a 0% “freshness” rating, we can definitively say that both critically and commercially, the fright flick has been—say it with me now—a disappointment.
(Ironically, if Tom Hanks starred in a movie about the making of the crash that is The Disappointments Room, it’d probably do quite well.)
Final figures update: 1. Sully, $35 million; 2. When the Bough Breaks, $14.2 million; 3. Don’t Breathe, $8.3 million; 3. Suicide Squad, $5.7 million; The Wild Life, $3.3 million.
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