Update: “Blended” garnered $4.4 million at the box office Friday. Less than even the $4.6 million earned by “That’s My Boy,” it is the worst opening day total for a Sandler film since his 2007 drama “Reign Over Me” drew $2.5 million. It is the worst opening for one of his live action comedies since “Bulletproof” launched in 1996.
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Moviegoers were evidently not clamoring for another opportunity to see the Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore pairing. Multiple sources report that their new film “Blended” is in the process of flopping at the box office.
In its Friday afternoon report, THR said that “Blended” was not expected to even reach $18 million over the four-day Memorial Day weekend. Nikki Finke was even less optimistic in a late-night report, noting that the film was tracking to earn just $3.5 million Friday as part of a $13 million Memorial Day haul.
Since officially catapulting into box office superstardom with 1998’s sleeper “The Wedding Singer” ($18.9 million) and smash “The Waterboy” ($39.4 million), Sandler has only twice failed to open one of his signature live action comedies to more than $25 million in weekend receipts.
Those failures came via “Little Nicky,” which earned $16.1 million in 2000, and “That’s My Boy,” which garnered just $13.5 million in 2012.
And as disappointing as those hauls were, they came in conjunction with traditional, three-day weekends. “Blended” might not even best the $13.5 million “That’s My Boy” total in four days.
If the grim “Blended” forecast holds, it will mark the worst wide opening for one of Sandler’s true live action comedies since “Bulletproof” earned $6.0 million in 1996.
Sandler first collaborated with Barrymore in 1998’s “The Wedding Singer,” which was at the time his most successful release. It earned $18.9 million in its opening weekend en route to a cumulative total of $80.2 million. 1996’s “Happy Gilmore,” which had previously been his best-grossing film, earned just $8.5 million in its opener before closing with a total of $38.8 million.
They then reconnected on 2004’s “50 First Dates.” The film, which earned a cumulative total of $120.9 million, began its run with $39.9 million in opening weekend receipts.