SUNDAY: “The Circle” comes in with $9.3 million. You’d have go to back to 1990 or earlier to find lower Hanks numbers. But he’ll be back in the fall with “The Post,” which is Oscar bound and should restore his box office lustre.
SATURDAY: It pains me to write this because I am a huge Tom Hanks fan. But “The Circle” will be his worst ever opening weekend box office and likely lowest grossing film ever.
Last night “The Circle” took in $3.2 million in 3,163 theaters. The per screen average was just over $1,000. The film, co-starring Emma Watson, came in fourth last night behind “The Fate of the Furious,” a Bollywood film, and the reviled “How to Be A Latin Lover.”
It’s not like “The Circle” is a critical success. It has a 17 on Rotten Tomatoes. No one likes it. A small distributor bought it, which is kind of weird for Tom Hanks. He’s a two Oscar winner, beloved, with many many hits.
The only recent Hanks movie to open lower was “A Hologram for the King.” But that movie opened at many fewer theaters. What they have in common is that they’re based on books by Dave Eggers. Someone sold Hanks a bill of goods on that one.
If “The Circle” comes in at $9 million or lower for the weekend, then it will even be below “Cloud Atlas” — $9.6 million, and “Inferno” — $14 million.
Hanks is almost 61 and has lots of career left in him. Who is choosing these movies? It’s time to find some great material. He can’t just rely on Steven Spielberg. It’s ironic, too, because Hanks’s “SNL” performance last fall showed that he is in tip top form. He’s a canny actor who can pull off anything– anything that makes sense and is well written.
Here’s a clip from “Bridge of Spies” that I loved:
