UPDATE SUNDAY 11:40am: Total was $19 million. It was at least $1 million less than any predictions other than mine below. Everyone said $20 mil or more. If Smith didn’t get at least $10 million of it, that would be fine. The domestic total should come to around $65 million. Let’s hope for better things in December with “Concussion.”
EARLIER: Will Smith didn’t stay in “Focus” last night. His latest film opened to $6.465 million, his lowest opening since 2008. That disaster was the awful, depressing “Seven Pounds.” Since then he’s been in “Men in Black 3” and “After Earth.” The latter opened to $9.8 million and and sank quickly, ending up with a domestic box office of $60.5 million.
It’s unclear whether “Focus” will have better legs. Right now predictions are a weekend finish of $19 million if lucky. But it’s clear that the affable Smith, who radiates charm and is certainly a welcome presence on movie screens, has to re think what’s going on here.
Once he was the go-to star for July 4th weekend. That isn’t the case anymore. It’s odd that he passed on the sequel to “Independence Day,” one movie that fans would clamor to see him in. Perhaps his attitude toward aliens has changed since then.
