MOTHER! headed for probably the worst word of mouth of any film in recent memory. Cinemascore will probably be a D.
2nd Update: As forecasted, New Line’s It is prevailing with an estimated $55M second weekend, -55% for a running total by Sunday of $213.7M. Again, that’s a record because’s it’s the second best weekend in September ever following It’s mind blowing $123.4M three-day. Today alone, It will make an estimated $17.5M per industry estimates.
CBS/Lionsgate’s American Assassin is looking at $6M today and $16M for the weekend in second place. The pic was co-financed by CBS and Lionsgate for $33M. Paramount’s mother! is looking at $4.2M today and $9M-$11M this weekend. Many believe it’s going lower because audiences since last night have been hating on the Darren Aronofsky-Jennifer Lawrence team-up. mother! was sold like a Screen Gems horror film, but when moviegoers finally get inside the theater, they find out it’s something completely different. PostTrak results reveal a 51% overall positive and a 33% definite recommend, which is as bad as its gets.
Well, it’s clear: Moviegoers officially hate Darren Aronofsky’s Mother! The film scored a rare F grade from CinemaScore audiences tonight, and there were many rivals heading into the weekend who were expecting that type of reaction. As we heard at noon, the bold Jennifer Lawrence pic is crashing well below its projections with an estimated $8M in third.
Paramount has been in this situation before with 2012’s The Devil Inside which also earned an F (in fact that year had two more F grade films: the Brad Pitt gangster pic Killing Them Softly and Open Road’s Silent House). But with Devil Inside, Paramount was able to buck the audience reaction on that $1M budgeted genre pic and make loads of cash with a $33.7M opening, final domestic $53.3M and global of $101.8M. Many attribute that win to a massive TV spot spend. Mother! is a different beast at a reported $30M before P&A (some believe it’s much higher: Lawrence is known to get $15M alone with actors like Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer earning $3M-$5M each). Oy vey.