Cate Blanchett’s acclaimed and buzzy ‘Tar’ opened with $160,000 in four theaters in advance of its October 28 wide release.
In new release news at the domestic box office, Columbia and Sony’s Lyle, Lyle Crocodile opened with a frankly disappointing $11.5 million Fri-Sun frame. To be fair, Sony is projecting a $13.4 million Fri-Mon weekend (tomorrow is Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day), but frankly that would still be a little underwhelming if it was just the Fri-Sun frame. Sure, we all celebrated in February of 2021 when Tom & Jerry opened to $14 million. That was the first sign of Covid-era theatrical life, and it was the definition of a ‘successful disappointment,’ namely a film performing in Covid times as well as it would have underwhelmed under conventional circumstances. We’re close enough to traditional circumstances not to grade the Javier Bardem/Constance Wu (who was on her way to becoming a butts-in-seats star before Covid) family-friendly comedy on such a curve.
That’s on par with Sony’s Peter Rabbit: The Runaway, which opened with $10.1 million in June of 2021 under different Covid-specific circumstances. Alas, this seems to be a scenario where just because audiences wanted to see Peter Rabbit (a $25 million debut in early 2018) does not mean they were excited about another ‘animated animal interacting with live-action humans’ fantasy. Based on Bernard Waber’s 1965 picture book of the same name, Lyle, Lyle Crocodile doesn’t have the brand awareness/interest of something like Clifford the Big Red Dog or Paddington. While reviews were generally okay (68% fresh but 5.6/10 on Rotten Tomatoes, showing that the Tomatometer only tells half the story), it isn’t drawing anyone outside of the ‘kids and their parents’ demographics. Having songs from the guys who did The Greatest Showman didn’t help this film any more than it aided last year’s Dear Evan Hanson.
