Guy Ritchie’s new film King Arthur looks like it has become the first major box office flop of the summer, after a highly disappointing showing on its international and American opening weekends.
The fantasy epic movie, directed by the distinctive Ritchie and starring Charlie Hunnam and Jude Law as well as a cameo by David Beckham, was made for an eye-popping total of $175 million on its production budget. However, its combined total from its worldwide opening weekend is said by The Hollywood Reporter to be $43.8 million, which could end translating into a $100 million loss for Warner Bros, the studio behind the movie.
In the United States, where it was presumably hoped that King Arthur would be able to capitalise on the success of ‘Game of Thrones’, it grossed $14.8 million from 3,702 cinemas, according to studio estimates. That figure was only enough to land the film a third-place position in the box office top ten for last weekend.
In fact, it even stalled behind Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn’s new comedy Snatched, which was made for a production budget more than four times smaller than Ritchie’s King Arthur. It made $17.5 million from an outlay of $42 million.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 enjoyed another strong showing at the box office in America, holding on to the top spot with $63 million in takings.
The news wasn’t much better internationally, where it took $29.1 from 51 countries. While it topped the box offices in Russia, it crucially underperformed in China, where it came in third with just over $6 million.
Intended as an earthy reimagining of the Arthurian medieval legend, King Arthur has been panned by critics almost universally, with a Rotten Tomatoes average of 27%. It means that it’s the second consecutive box office turkey that Ritchie has delivered, with his re-boot of 1950s spy series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. back in 2015 also performing well below expectations.
More: Charlie Hunnam trained like a professional athlete for ‘King Arthur’
