(Image source: Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures)
The fourth installment in the "28" zombie film series, "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple," officially hit North American theaters last weekend, but its performance was clearly underwhelming. The film earned only $13 million in its opening weekend, a stark contrast to the third installment's $30 million opening, representing a more than 50% drop. This figure also fell significantly short of industry projections, which had estimated $20 million to $22 million. Not only did "The Bone Temple" fail to claim the top spot as a new release, it debuted at a disappointing fourth place.
With the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday extending the weekend to four days, even factoring in Monday's box office, "The Bone Temple" is only expected to reach $15 million, still a modest sum. The North American box office crown for the weekend remained with "Avatar: The Way of Water," which pulled in $17.2 million. The film has now held the number one spot for five consecutive weeks, with its global box office currently exceeding $1.3 billion.
(Image source: Walt Disney Pictures)
Adding its $16.2 million haul from international markets, "The Bone Temple's" global opening weekend total stands at $31.1 million. This is significantly less than the third installment's $60 million, again nearly halving its predecessor's performance. This sharp decline for "The Bone Temple" is widely attributed to the highly polarized reception of the third film, with audiences who disliked the previous entry reportedly showing little interest in supporting the fourth. Some media outlets also suggest the quick turnaround, with only six months between the third and fourth films, didn't allow enough time for market anticipation to build.
Claiming the third spot at the North American box office last week was "Zootopia 2," which earned $24.3 million. The film's global box office has now surpassed $1.7 billion, officially making it Walt Disney Pictures' highest-grossing animated film to date.