Pixels Has Slow Start at Box Office

The new Adam Sandler video game movie Pixels was the top-performing movie on Friday, but as suspected, it could not hold the No. 1 spot all weekend long. The results are now in, and Pixels was the No. 2 movie this weekend in the United States, finishing behind Ant-Man, which is in its second weekend.

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From Friday through Sunday, Pixels generated $24 million at the box office, according to data from Deadline. The Hollywood news site also reports that the movie was never expected to do much better. And in fact, its $24 million opening is in line with Sandler’s other family friendly films.

“$24M isn’t a fantastic opening for a Sandler summer film, but in all fairness, Sony was always expecting a low- to mid-$20M opening,” the site says. “And that’s where the comedian’s family fare has bowed (read Bedtime Stories, $27.45M, and Jack and Jill, $25M).”

Pixels had a reported production budget of $88 million. But note that these figures are for the US only. Add in $25.4 million from international markets, via Box Office Mojo, and the movie is sitting at a lifetime gross of $49.4 million after its first three days.

Critics have not been kind to Pixels, which was directed by Harry Potter‘s Christopher Columbus and also stars Peter Dinklage, Josh Gad, and Kevin James.

Pixels sees a variety of iconic gaming characters, including Pac-Man and Donkey Kong, attacking earth after misinterpreting arcade games as a declaration of war against them. Sandler, James, Dinklage, and Gad play “Arcaders,” who are tasked with saving the world.

We also recently learned that the movie was supposed to have scenes set in China, but these were reportedly cut due to “sensitivity” concerns.

Looking for more video game movie coverage? Check out this image gallery to see all the video game movies currently in production–and there are lots.

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