The Lazarus Effect with Olivia Wilde.
The Lazarus Effect box office: Olivia Wilde and Mark Duplass horror movie arrives comatose
Despite recent news that human head transplants are a mere two years away, the Mark Duplass–Olivia Wilde horror movie The Lazarus Effect – about bringing the dead back to life (as if world overpopulation weren’t already a problem) – grossed $10.6 million from 2,666 U.S. and Canada venues on opening weekend, Feb. 27–March 1, according to studio estimates.
The Relativity Studios-distributed low-budget horror flick had earned an estimated $3.8 million on opening-day Friday, including $350,000 from Thursday night screenings.
Last week, box office prognosticators had been expecting an opening between $12–$14 million. That was adjusted downward to $10 million or whereabouts after the film’s disappointing Friday debut.
Some, in fact, believed The Lazarus Effect would open below the $10 million mark. If one takes that into account, then its (estimated) $10.6 million opening-weekend performance seems slightly more lively.
Monday, March 2 update: according to studio figures, The Lazarus Effect earned $10.2 million, averaging a mediocre $3,827 per theater.
The Lazarus Effect vs. Oculus
For comparison’s sake: Mike Flanagan’s Oculus, featuring a group of somewhat lesser-known TV actors – Karen Gillan, Brenton Thwaites, Rory Cochrane, Katee Sackhoff – pulled in $12 million from 2,648 sites on its North American debut weekend in April 2014.
Directed by David Gelb, besides Mark Duplass and Olivia Wilde, The Lazarus Effect features Kick-Ass and X-Men: Days of Future Past actor Evan Peters, Donald Glover, and Sarah Bolger. Luke Dawson and Jeremy Slater are credited for the screenplay.
This more serious-minded Re-Animator (with a touch of the 1990 Julia Roberts hit Flatliners) cost a reported $5 million, not including marketing and distribution expenses – which not infrequently can be quite a bit heftier than the negative cost of these types of films.
Relativity acquired The Lazarus Effect for 3.3 million. The film has a dismal 13 percent approval rating and 4/10 average at Rotten Tomatoes.
The Lazarus Effect trailing Fifty Shades of Grey
On Saturday, it was unclear whether or not The Lazarus Effect was going to reach $10 million at the domestic box office. And, if so, whether or not it would trail holdovers Kingsman: The Secret Service, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, and Fifty Shades of Grey.
As it turned out, The Lazarus Effect did gross more than $10 million and, even so, according to studio estimates it did trail the aforementioned three movies.
As found at Box Office Mojo, here are the studio’s weekend box office estimates:
- Kingsman: The Secret Service took in $11.8 million. (Monday update: $10.88 million.)
- The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water took in $11.2 million. (Monday update: $10.9 million.)
- Fifty Shades of Grey took in $10.9 million. (Monday update: $10.6 million. )
Fifty Shades of Grey holds up better than Twilight
Universal’s Sam Taylor-Johnson-directed Fifty Shades of Grey was down a relatively modest 51 percent. Some had been expecting a drop near the 60 percent mark.
Still, at least in the U.S. and Canada, the kinky sex drama starring Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan has been following a pattern similar to that of the Twilight movies. In other words, a huge opening followed by sizable weekend drop-off rates.
Starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, Catherine Hardwicke’s Twilight was down 62 percent on its second weekend, and 50 percent on its third back in fall 2008.
Made for a reported $40 million, Fifty Shades of Grey’s domestic cume stands at an estimated $147.8 million. The international total is $338.4 million, for a worldwide grand total of $486 million.
Next time people tell you that sex sells, believe them.
Kingsman vs. SpongeBob
Directed by Matthew Vaughn, Kingsman: The Secret Service stars Best Actor Academy Award winner Colin Firth (The King’s Speech, 2010) and relative film newcomer Taron Egerton (Hereafter, Testament of Youth).
Directed by Paul Tibbitt, the animated/live action 3D feature The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water offers Antonio Banderas as a character named Burger-Beard the Pirate. Other cast members, voice actors or otherwise, include Tom Kenny, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass, Bill Fagerbakke, Carolyn Lawrence, and Matt Berry.
“The Lazarus Effect Box Office: Comatose Debut” notes
Olivia Wilde The Lazarus Effect image: Daniel McFadden | Relativity Media.