Friday, March 29, 2024

Box Office: Stallone, Arnold, and Now Mel Gibson Tank with Expendables 3

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The third time is not a charm. “Expendables 3” is a bust at the box office despite an all star cast and  millions spent on promotion.

Sylvester Stallone’s clever franchise brought in Mel Gibson this time and bombed. Harrison Ford wasn’t much a draw either, even though he’s not a big part of it. Maybe Bruce Willis was wise to sit number 3 out, as Arnold Schwarzenegger et al failed to do much business this weekend.

On Friday night, holdovers “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and “Guardians of the Galaxy” held “Expendables 3” to third place. Not only that but the Lions Gate release didn’t do much better than Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep in the futuristic “The Giver” and the comedy “Let’s Be Cops.”

You’ll recall the hoopla about “E3” in Cannes. LionsGate rolled tanks down the Croisett, held a huge press conference and threw a rat you know what of a party.

But it seems the nostalgia for all this evaporated. Maybe it’s because Mel Gibson looks like a mountain man now. But audiences didn’t want him. Last night the movie did $5.9 million. “E2” took in $10.5 million on its opening night exactly two years ago.

Producers are hoping for major overseas money. They opened in Lebanon, Singapore and Thailand– not exactly capitals of cinematic sophistication.

 

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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