The star-packed female spy action pic The 355 is flailing in its box office debut, grossing $1.7 million from 3,145 theaters on Friday for a projected opening in the $4 million range.
The movie’s poor showing comes as a surge in COVID-19 cases due to the highly infectious omicron variant further spooks older female moviegoers, the target demo for The 355. Simon Kinberg directs the film, which stars Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Fan Bingbing, Diane Kruger and Lupita Nyong’o.
Poor reviews also aren’t helping. Audiences liked it more, giving the movie a B+ CinemaScore.
The 355, a passion project for Chastain, is from Universal and FilmNation and is the first Hollywood studio release of 2022.
Friday’s audience was led by females (52 percent), with 80 percent of ticket buyers over the age of 35, including 38 percent over 45, according to PostTrak.
The 355 is tipped to come in third for the weekend behind holdovers Spider-Man: No Way Home and Sing 2.
No Way Home, staying atop the chart, earned roughly $8 million on Friday from 4,012 theaters for a projected weekend of $30 million. By Sunday, the Sony and Marvel pic’s domestic total should be close to $670 million — one of the best numbers of all time — thanks to male moviegoers ages 18-34.
Universal and Illuminations’ Sing 2 is holding at No. 2 with a projected weekend of $10.3 million from 3,713 locations. Sometime over the weekend, it will become the first family animated film of the pandemic era to cross $100 million domestically.
Like older adults, families have been slow to return to theaters. And while Disney’s Encanto and Sing 2 have done solid business as more kids get vaccinated, the family market is still depressed. On Friday, Disney announced that Pixar’s early March entry Turning Red will bypass theaters and debut exclusively on Disney+.
Also on Friday, Universal opted to make Sing 2 available on premium VOD, just 17 days after its release in theaters.
Elsewhere at the weekend box office, The King’s Man and American Underdog are expected to round out the top five.
Full weekend numbers will follow on Sunday morning.
