‘The Kid Who Would Be King’ Could Lose Up To $50 Million At The Box Office
The Kid Who Would Be Kingis having a royally bad time at the box office.Joe Cornish’s family-friendly follow-up to his 2011 breakout hitAttack the Blockis gearing up to be one of the year’s first big-budget flops after the $60 million movie debuted last weekend to a disastrous $7 million at 3,521 theaters.
Only a month into 2019,The Kid Who Would Be Kingmarks the lowest launch for a wide-release from a major studio this year. According toVariety, rival studios estimate that the fantasy-adventure could lose around $50 million, taking marketing and production costs into account.
That’s a big hit to Cornish, on whom anticipation was riding high for his second feature after the critically acclaimed sci-fi hitAttack the Block. But the long wait between his first film and his follow-up may have muted excitement for the director, and the film’s difficulty marketing toward families may have hurt the film. Variety notes that marketing for a family movie tends to be pricier for an average film as well, because studios have to pitch to both children and parents. And it’s still in question whether that advertising succeeded — the trailers failed to impress, and many were left wondering who the audience was for this King Arthur retelling.
It’s unfortunate, becauseThe Kid Who Would Be Kingis a genuinely sweet and charming film that deserves more than its more box office showing. A spiritual throwback to ’80s kid adventure films,The Kid Who Would Be Kingdelivers the kind of sincere, earnest movie that you rarely see nowadays: a family film that doesn’t attempt to talk down to kids.
However, 20th Century Fox is disputing reports thatThe Kid Who Would Be Kingwould suffer huge financial losses. The studio remains hopeful that international numbers, especially in the U.K. where it has yet to open, will help recoup losses. The film began its overseas rollout last weekend, though things don’t look too bright for it globally either, with $1.9 million overseas bringing its global total to $10.45 million.
Hopefully, this won’t harm Cornish’s budding career as a director. TheAnt-ManandAdventures of Tintinwriter is a bonafide talent. Perhaps thenextStar Treksequel could help him get this box office clunker out of the stone.
