The curse of the second weekend of summer certainly hit the two major releases this year as neither King Arthur: Legend of the Sword nor Snatched were able to break out in any big way. Things never looked promising for Warner Bros. $175 million epic retelling of the King Arthur legend, but that didn't stop them from trying to sell it like the next big thing. As these things go though, a new series of films starring Charlie Hunnam as the Excalibur wielding King were not to be as Legend of the Sword collected what is only an estimated $14.7 million from 3,702 theaters. Expectations from the studio and around the industry heading into the weekend hued closer to the $23-25 million range, but even with these lowered expectations the Guy Ritchie film couldn't measure up. Worse even, is the fact Warner Bros. was hoping for a $23-25 million opening when compared with how much this thing cost them. Somewhat surprisingly, those who did actually get out to see the film awarded it with a "B+" CinemaScore which isn't great by opening day audience standards, but is honestly better than I expected it to do. To add more fuel to the fire is to consider that over the next three weekends alone the major releases are more or less guaranteed to make a fair amount of money given Alien: Covenant, Baywatch, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, and Wonder Woman are included among those releases likely wiping this unnecessary King Arthur re-boot off the map. There will be a lot of pressure on the international performance of the film in order to recoup some of its production costs, but after opening in 51 additional markets this weekend to only $29.1 million totaling a worldwide cum just shy of $44 million-it's going to be a long road home for those involved as Legend of the Sword will yet again serve more as a cautionary tale than anything else. As for Snatched, the $42 million budgeted Goldie Hawn/Amy Schumer comedy scored enough to come in second at the box office with an estimated $17.5 million over Mothers Day weekend and unlike Arthur, will face little competition over the next two weeks. Last but not least, Guardians Vol. 2 held on to the top spot dropping 57% for an estimated $63 million second weekend putting its domestic cume over $246 million which pushes the film over $630 million worldwide. As always, you can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, as well as subscribe to our YouTube channel!
Read my full King Arthur: Legend of the Sword review here.
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