It seemed to avoid the flop label with a decent-enough haul on Thursday, but by the end of the weekend, it was clear that the best possible adjective one could use for “Katy Perry: Part of Me” was disappointing.
The film only added $7.1 million over the three day weekend, which brought it to a cumulative gross of just $10.1 million. The studio was reportedly expecting the film to gross its modest $12 million budget by Sunday; it now might take until Tuesday or Wednesday to get there.
While this is not an absolute bomb, it is not an inspiring opening and undoubtedly raises the question of whether a Katy Perry concert film made much sense. While Perry is an absolute hit machine at radio, it is her catchy, well-crafted music–more than her persona–that fuels the success. It requires a passionate, rapid fanbase to open a concert film well at the box office, and it is not clear that Perry, the person, has that rapport with her fans.
“Savages,” the other new opener, performed unspectacularly with $16.2 million in receipts. This is certainly not a bomb, but it had become quite clear in recent weeks that the modestly-reviewed film was failing to command much attention among cinemagoers.
Those audiences, instead, preferred to spend money with films like “The Amazing Spider-Man,” which delivered $65 million over the past three days to up its six-day haul to $140 million. It easily claimed number one over “Ted,” which nonetheless held up better than expected at $32.6 million. It has now earned a very impressive $120.2 million in just two weeks.
“Brave” landed in third on $20.2 million, besting “Savages” and “Magic Mike,” which predictably slipped 60% to $15.6 million. “Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection” slipped by a similar percentage, earning just $10.2 million for sixth, while “Madagascar 3” reigned supreme over the Katy Perry movie with $7.7 million. The former should cross the $200 million threshold this coming week.
“Moonrise Kingdom” ($4.6 million) and “To Rome with Love” ($3.5 million) rounded out the top ten.
