‘1917’ Hits No. 1 at the Box Office and Takes Aim at the Oscars

Determined not to stumble out of the gate with another drama, Warner Bros. used theater buyouts from celebrities like John Legend, companies like Microsoft and churches like New Light in Houston to push “Just Mercy” to an estimated $10 million in ticket sales. “Just Mercy,” starring Michael B. Jordan as the civil-rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson and Jamie Foxx as a wrongly condemned death-row prisoner, cost about $21 million to make. It received an A-plus grade from ticket buyers in CinemaScore exit polls.

“Like a Boss” (Paramount), a poorly reviewed raunchy comedy starring Tiffany Haddish, Rose Byrne and Salma Hayek, also collected about $10 million, according to Comscore, which compiles box-office data. It cost around $29 million to make.

The weekend marked another Kristen Stewart misfire, however. The modestly marketed aquatic horror movie “Underwater” (20th Century Fox, a division of Disney) was just that in a financial sense, costing TSG Entertainment an estimated $50 million to make and taking in $7 million. “Underwater,” essentially “Alien” except at the bottom of the ocean, took in another $7 million overseas. After a well-regarded run in art films like “Clouds of Sils Maria,” Stewart has made a turn back toward mass-appeal movies lately. She last appeared in “Charlie’s Angels,” which was similarly rejected by ticket buyers.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/12/movies/1917-box-office-no-1.html?emc=rss&partner=rss