NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Francis Ford Coppola鈥檚 decades-in-the-making, flopped with moviegoers, while the acclaimed DreamWorks Animation family film soared to No. 1 at the weekend box office.
鈥淲ild Robot,鈥� Chris Sanders鈥� adaptation of Peter Brown鈥檚 bestseller, outperformed expectations to launch with $35 million in ticket sales in U.S. and Canada theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday. 鈥淲ild Robot鈥� was poised to do well after critics raved about the story of a shipwrecked robot who raises an orphan gosling. Audiences agreed, giving the film an A CinemaScore. 鈥淲ild Robot鈥� is likely set up a long and lucrative run for the Universal Pictures release.
鈥淢别驳补濒辞辫辞濒颈蝉,鈥� , was never expected to perform close to that level. But the film鈥檚 $4 million debut was still sobering for a movie that Coppola bankrolled himself for $120 million. Following its critics have been mixed on Coppola鈥檚 first film in 13 years. Audiences gave in a D+ CinemaScore.
By any financial measure, 鈥淢egalopolis鈥� was a mega-flop. But from the start, the 85-year-old Coppola maintained money wasn鈥檛 his concern. Coppola fashioned the film, which he first began developing in the late 1970s, as a grand personal statement about human possibility.
鈥淓veryone鈥檚 so worried about money,鈥� Coppola told The Associated Press in an interview ahead of the film鈥檚 release. 鈥淚 say: Give me less money and give me more friends.鈥�
Studios passed on 鈥淢egalopolis鈥� after Cannes. Lionsgate ultimately stepped forward to distribute it, for a fee. Coppola also picked up the tab for most of its $15 million in marketing costs. The film, which stars Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel and Aubrey Plaza, also played in about 200 IMAX locations, which accounted for $1.8 million of its ticket sales.
After three weeks atop the box office, slid to second place with $16 million in its fourth weekend of release. The Warner Bros. sequel to the 1988 鈥淏eetlejuice,鈥� starring Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder, has amassed $250 million domestically in a month of release.
Third place went to the Transformers prequel starring Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry. After its lower-than expected debut last weekend, the Paramount release collected about $9 million on its second weekend.
Also debuting in theaters was an affectionate dramatization of the sketch-comedy institution on the night it first aired in 1975. On the same weekend the NBC series Reitman鈥檚 movie launched in five New York and Los Angeles theaters and collected $265,000, good for a strong $53,000 per-theater average. 鈥淪aturday Night鈥� goes nationwide in two weeks.
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
