After countless delays, The New Mutants finally arrived in U.S. theaters on Friday. Now, Deadline reports that the Marvel movie earned $3.1 million on Friday, the best opening day since March. It's projected to make a dismal $8 million (possibly less) by the end of the weekend, but by today's standards, that not the worst opening. It will, however, be interesting seeing how Tenet compares.
If that does considerably more, then it will be clear that there's only a very limited number of people willing to go to theaters. However, if it does better than that, then it's clear The New Mutants hasn't generated much interest (bear in mind that current projections peg Tenet at $25+ million).
Overseas, Tenet had a Wednesday - Sunday opening of $40+ million as theaters are open in a lot of key territories. However, as a five-day opening goes, those numbers are understandably dreadful. They have, however, exceeded expectations to some extent, but this one turning a profit seems unlikely.
Going back to The New Mutants, it's said that the idea of extending the movie into some sort of series at Hulu was considered, but ultimately scrapped. A co-financing deal with TSG meant it would have to play on the big screen, but as the trade notes, "when New Mutants arrived at Disney, Marvel Boss Kevin Feige didn’t put his fingerprints on the movie to fix it."
Did you head to the theater this weekend?