‘Dunkirk’ Exceeds Box Office Expectations as ‘Valerian’ Bombs

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/23/movies/dunkirk-girls-trip-valerian-box-office.html

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LOS ANGELES — “Dunkirk” and “Girls Trip” won big at the weekend box office by breaking unwritten Hollywood rules about release dates and cast diversity. But another flouter of film industry norms, the surreal, independently financed space adventure “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets,” was dead on arrival.

Powered by exceptional reviews — the word “masterpiece” was bandied about — “Dunkirk” (Warner Bros.) took in about $50.5 million at North American theaters, or about 20 percent more than analysts had expected before release. Turnout was very strong at Imax locations. (The film was shot with Imax 70-millimeter cameras.) “Dunkirk,” directed and written by Christopher Nolan and focused on trapped soldiers during World War II, collected an additional $55.4 million in partial release overseas.

“Dunkirk” cost about $100 million to make, not including marketing.

Releasing “Dunkirk” in late July was a risk. Serious films aimed at older audiences tend to arrive in the fall or late winter; summer is usually reserved for comic-book adaptations and science-fiction epics. But Mr. Nolan wanted a summer berth for “Dunkirk,” and Warner Bros. backed him, betting that audiences would be hungry for something smart and original after an unsatisfying diet of sequels to sequels.

“The right movie can play and play in late summer,” Jeff Goldstein, Warner’s president of domestic distribution, said by phone on Sunday. Mr. Goldstein cited “the Nolan pedigree” for stronger-than-expected turnout, along with “our marketing team, which did a phenomenal job.”

About 60 percent of the “Dunkirk” audience was male. Older moviegoers — anyone over the age of 25 in Hollywood’s calculation — made up about 76 percent. “I think we will see it broaden out in the weeks ahead due to word of mouth,” Mr. Goldstein said.

Warner Bros. had other reason to celebrate over the weekend, as “Wonder Woman” passed “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” to become the No. 1 movie of the summer at the domestic box office. So far this year, Warner Bros. has taken in $1.02 billion in North America, a 9 percent increase compared to the same period in 2016.

“Girls Trip” (Universal), an R-rated comedy about a group of women who let loose in New Orleans, took in a hefty $30.4 million. A string of comedies — “Baywatch,” “Snatched,” “Rough Night,” “The House” — have fizzled this summer, but “Girls Trip” offered something different: The principal roles were all played by black women, which almost never happens in Hollywood, where such casting is usually dismissed as too niche. The last time a studio backed such a comedic ensemble may have been in 1995, when 20th Century Fox released “Waiting to Exhale.”

“Girls Trip,” which cost roughly $20 million to make, was cheered by critics, with Tiffany Haddish’s breakout performance singled out for particular praise. The film, which received an A-plus grade in CinemaScore exit polls, was directed by Malcolm D. Lee, known lately for “The Best Man Holiday.” Kenya Barris (“black-ish”) and Tracy Oliver (“The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl”) wrote the screenplay.

And then there was Luc Besson’s “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” (STX Films), which took in about $17 million, a disastrous showing for a film that cost at least $150 million to make, not including marketing. The movie’s challenges included comic-book source material unfamiliar to most Americans, a shortage of star power and computer-generated creatures that drew comparisons to the hated Jar Jar Binks.

Reviewing “Valerian” in The New York Times, A. O. Scott said watching the film was akin to “crushing a DVD of ‘The Phantom Menace’ into a fine powder, tossing in some Adderall and Ecstasy and a pinch of cayenne pepper and snorting the resulting mixture while wearing a virtual reality helmet in a Las Vegas karaoke bar.”

The good news for STX, a three-year-old entertainment company: Mr. Besson’s troubled EuropaCorp, which is based in France, paid for “Valerian.” (Europa then dramatically reduced its own financial exposure by selling distribution rights in dozens of countries and bringing in outside investors.)

But “Valerian” is a setback for STX nonetheless. So far, STX’s movie division has not lived up to its bold promises, which included promoting “Valerian” as a blockbuster at a March convention for theater owners. STX declined to comment on Sunday beyond a statement summarizing the film’s results. “Historically, Besson’s films have performed extremely well overseas and ‘Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets’ is expected to be no different,” it said in part.