With a budget between $10M-$14M, Universal Pictures’ The Turning (review) doesn’t need a whole lot to break even, but the troubled production’s weak box office opening isn’t going to help matters.
Crippled by poor word of mouth that resulted in the second “F” CinemaScore this month, the 90’s take on “The Turn of the Screw” took in an estimated $7.3M domestic, which is less than what Sony’s god awful The Grudge was able to scare up a few weekends ago. The Turning is going to need some serious international help in order to recoup, only it’s off to a bad start with only $800,000 for a global opening of $8.1M. Ouch.
Speaking of The Grudge (review), negative reviews and its “F” CinemaScore grade weren’t enough to keep this Sam Raimi-produced, R-rated haunter from making back its money, plus some. The new Grudge, directed by Nicolas Pesce, has a reported budget of $10M, which means it needed to see around $30M worldwide before it could be declared a success. It’s currently sitting at $40M globally with more to come. Even though it was able to recoup, it’s highly unlikely we’ll see another sequel anytime soon (or ever again).
Meanwhile, Fox/Disney’s excellent Underwater (review) is a titanic failure, having cost somewhere between $60M-$80M, and sitting at only $33M worldwide. This was clearly a Disney dumping of a film they didn’t have confidence in, which is disappointing considering its dumb-fun summer popcorn movie appeal.
