
- Battle Los Angeles movie box office: Sony Pictures’ Jonathan Liebesman-directed critical dud debuted with an acceptable figure, but it has no chance of breaking even in the domestic market.
- In other domestic box office news, Catherine Hardwicke’s critically panned horror fantasy Red Riding Hood had a mediocre opening. Amanda Seyfried stars.
Battle Los Angeles movie box office: Jonathan Liebesman’s critically derided alien invasion flick tops chart
March 11–13 weekend box office (cont.): The Walt Disney Studios’ disastrous Mars Needs Moms, which opened at a lowly no. 5, was the undeniable big (bad) box office story this past weekend. But let’s not ignore the other two titles that opened in wide release in North America (U.S. and Canada only): Sony Pictures’ Battle Los Angeles and Warner Bros.’ Red Riding Hood.
Directed by Jonathan Liebesman, Battle Los Angeles debuted atop the domestic chart with $35.6 million from 3,417 locations as per final studio figures found at boxofficemojo.com. That’s a no-more-than-acceptable figure for the critically excoriated alien invasion flick – which has no chance of recovering its reported $70 million budget (as always, not including marketing and distribution expenses) in the domestic market.
In the Battle Los Angeles movie cast: Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Bridget Moynahan, Gino Anthony Pesi, Michael Peña, and Ramón Rodríguez.
Battle Los Angeles performs well internationally
Update: Jonathan Liebesman’s Battle Los Angeles ultimately collected a so-so $83.6 million domestically and a more impressive $128.3 million internationally. Worldwide total: $211.8 million, which may have been enough for the militaristic sci-fier to break even at the box office.
Its top international markets – most of them in Asia – were China (up until then the widest release for a foreign film in that country; total gross: $25.2 million), Japan ($9.2 million), South Korea ($9 million), Russia/CIS ($8.3 million), the United Kingdom/Ireland ($7.8 million), Australia ($5.9 million), Spain ($5.2 million), India (making a rare Top Ten appearance with $4.5 million), Brazil ($4.3 million), and Mexico ($4.2 million).
Overseas, the much-derided Battle Los Angeles was the no. 1 movie, collecting $29 million in 55 markets. In China alone, , Battle Los Angeles grossed $11.8 million.
Red Riding Hood box office: Catherine Hardwicke’s Twilight-ish horror fantasy has grim domestic debut
Trailing the Gore Verbinski-Johnny Depp collaboration Rango – $22.6 million at no. 2 (down 41 percent on its second weekend; cume: $68.2 million) – Red Riding Hood debuted with a measly $14 million from 3,030 venues.
Coproduced by Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Twilight’s Catherine Hardwicke, the critically massacred romantic horror fantasy stars Amanda Seyfried as the titular character, a young village-by-the-forest dweller who loves woodchopper Shiloh Fernandez but whose family wants her married to rich stud Max Irons. Making things a tad more complicated, one of the two young men may be a werewolf.
Red Riding Hood cost a reported $42 million. Considering the movie’s initial gross, there’s no chance of a Red Riding Hood Saga.
Also in the cast: Gary Oldman as a witch-hunting priest, Twilight actor Billy Burke, Lukas Haas, Michael Shanks, Oscar nominee Virginia Madsen (Sideways, 2004) as Red Riding Hood’s mother Suzette, and veteran Oscar winner Julie Christie (Darling, 1965) in an important cameo as the young woman’s world-renowned Grandmother.
Lastly, also this past weekend George Nolfi’s sci-fi-ish thriller The Adjustment Bureau grossed $11.6 million at no. 4 (down 45 percent on its second weekend; cume: $38.6 million). Matt Damon and Emily Blunt star.
Red Riding Hood fails internationally
Update: The Catherine Hardwicke-Amanda Seyfried collaboration Red Riding Hood ultimately collected $37.7 million domestically and a better (but still disappointing) $52.6 million internationally. Worldwide total: $90.3 million, or hardly enough for the romantic horror fantasy to break even.
Its top international markets were Australia ($4.8 million), Spain ($4.7 million), the United Kingdom/Ireland ($4.4 million), Russia/CIS ($4.2 million), and Mexico ($4 million).
”Battle Los Angeles Movie Box Office” endnotes
Unless otherwise noted, “Battle Los Angeles Movie Box Office: No. 1 on Domestic Chart; Red Riding Hood Bombs” box office information via Box Office Mojo. Budget info – which should be taken with a grain of salt – via BOM and/or other sources (e.g., the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Screen Daily, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Deadline.com, etc.).
Comments about Battle Los Angeles, Red Riding Hood, and other titles being hits/profitable or flops/money-losers at the box office (see paragraph below) are based on the available data about their production budget, additional marketing and distribution expenses (as a general rule of thumb, around 50 percent of the production cost), and worldwide gross (as a general rule of thumb when it comes to the Hollywood studios, around 50–55 percent of the domestic gross and 40 percent of the international gross goes to the distributing/producing companies).
Bear in mind that data regarding rebates, domestic/international sales/pre-sales, and other credits and/or contractual details that help to alleviate/split production costs and apportion revenues are oftentimes unavailable, and that reported international grosses may be incomplete (i.e., not every territory is fully – or even partially – accounted for).
Also bear in mind that ancillary revenues (domestic/global television rights, home video sales, streaming, merchandising, etc.) can represent anywhere between 40–70 percent of a movie’s total take. However, these revenues and their apportionment are only infrequently made public.
Battle Los Angeles movie image: Sony Pictures Releasing.
“Battle Los Angeles Movie Box Office: No. 1 on Domestic Chart; Red Riding Hood Bombs” last updated in December 2022.
2 comments
I’ve seen it twice, once with friends and once with family members who wanted to see it. I enjoyed it both times. The critics seem to hate most of the good movies and I wonder how much their negative blasting of fun movies hurt at the box office. The two young male stars of the movie were wonderful and refreshing, the scenery and interesting village were great, the mystery part of it was fun. The six people I saw it with from age 18 – 68 all liked it a lot.
Seems that this week’s release were very good considering the bash that the film critic’s reviews.
I saw BATTLE: LOS ANGELES trailer and I can’t understand how people pay to see a movie like this…. I am verryyyyy tired of this kind of movie!
Now… RRH did really good if you consider the reviews! THAT I really didn’t get! Why did people think it would be different? It IS a fairytale with a wolf in the woods, with a girl and two guys, made by a director who until now just did teens movies. The big problem is people itself, who could not disassociate Twilight from RRH. It was a huge mistake from the studio! They could not hire Catherine, because the thematic is the same! Same thematic, same director, same movie!
But the truth is the fairytale is older than Twilight but the screenwriter changed it and did a thematic copy! Lousy job!
But I think, in the end, the movie will do well in the worldwide box office and will profit!