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Blade Runner Runs Into Trouble

Picture a landscape filled with amazing technological advances, but one that feels curiously depressing—something teeming with simulated life, yet strangely lifeless.

The Los Angeles megalopolis from Blade Runner 2049? No, I’m talking about the box office from this weekend.

Blade Runner 2049 zoomed into theaters with a strong pedigree, lots of ooh-ahh special effects and an impressively grizzled Harrison Ford. No matter: The sequel to the sci-fi classic Blade Runner fled from its lofty expectations like a wayward replicant: It mustered just an estimated $31.5 million this weekend, waaaay off the $55 million some predicted it’d collect. Considering its makers spent about $150 million to make Blade Runner 2049—and who knows how much more on marketing—Ryan Gosling’s K had better stop hunting replicants and start tracking down greenbacks.

And things didn’t get much better as we look down the box-office standings. The Mountain Between Us, the weekend’s second big release, felt like more of an anthill. Despite featuring the talents of Kate Winslet and Idris Elba, it managed only $10.1 million, finishing a distant second. Methinks this film could use a little rescue itself.

Holdover IT continues to float in the top five, scaring up another $9.7 million. The fright flick has now earned nearly $305 million, which makes it the year’s fifth biggest movie. It also is—by a green mile—the highest-grossing film ever based on a Stephen King novel. (The second-highest-grossing King flick is, naturally, 1999’s The Green Mile, with $136.8 million.)

My Little Pony: The Movie, fluttered shyly into fourth place after rainbow dashing to an $8.8 million weekend. Sure, that take isn’t exactly a rarity by Hollywood’s standards—just a small slice of pinkie pie, really—and it seems like it’s already in the twilight sparkle of its run. Still, it might be enough to buy a few boxes of applejacks.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle closed out the top five with $8.1 million.