Steven Spielberg is many things. Hollywood icon. Nostalgia dealer. Dinosaur daddy.
But is he cool?
The 79-year-old filmmaker returned to the summer box office for the first time in a decade over the weekend with “Disclosure Day,” an original science-fiction spectacle. It collected an estimated $44 million at 3,824 theaters in the United States and Canada from Thursday through Sunday, according to Rentrak, an entertainment data service.
“A very good opening,” said David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter on box office numbers, noting that original stories are inherently harder to market than established franchises. A week ago, “Disclosure Day” was on track to take in roughly $35 million in its first weekend, with analysts basing that estimate on advance ticket sales and surveys that track moviegoer interest.
The primary reason for the uncertainty was that no one, not even Universal Pictures, the studio behind “Disclosure Day,” was quite sure whether the film would attract younger moviegoers. They’re the ones who typically rush out to see new movies and who have recently powered extra big opening weekends for films like “Backrooms.”
And if teenagers and young adults didn’t show up, could “Disclosure Day” rely on older moviegoers to pick up the slack? Ticket buyers over 34 — “old” by Hollywood’s reckoning — have been the slowest to return to theaters since the pandemic.
In the end, the oldsters saved the day. About 59 percent of the “Disclosure Day” audience was over 34, according to PostTrak, a movie research firm.
Compare that with “Backrooms,” a cooler-than-thou horror movie (from a 20-year-old first-time director who built a following on YouTube) that managed to sell an eye-popping $81.4 million in tickets on its opening weekend last month. Roughly 14 percent of ticket buyers for “Backrooms” over its first three days in theaters were over 34.
Mr. Spielberg has not had a hit (excluding sequels or remakes) at the summer box office — a crucial Hollywood season he helped define — in 24 years. His most recent attempt, “The BFG,” collected a disastrous $19 million on its first weekend in 2016, or about $27 million after adjusting for inflation. That left “Minority Report” as his last new-to-the-screen summer blockbuster. It starred Tom Cruise at his height and opened to $36 million in 2002, or $68 million after adjusting for inflation.
Mr. Spielberg has certainly had more recent successes. The science-fiction adventure “Ready Player One” was released in spring 2018 and arrived to $42 million in opening-weekend ticket sales, or $57 million in today’s dollars. But he has faced a generational challenge nonetheless: His name above the title does not automatically mobilize large numbers of young people in same the way it used to, analysts have said.
Younger cinephiles tend to regard Mr. Spielberg as less of a current cinematic force and more of a figure of history — the filmmaker against whom all others are measured. By contrast, directors like Christopher Nolan, Ryan Coogler and Greta Gerwig are more likely to inspire the kind of fervor that turns opening weekends into events, analysts say. (When tickets for the first deluxe showings of Mr. Nolan’s coming film, “The Odyssey,” went on sale last week, some ticketing sites crashed. Purchasing wait times stretched to hours on others.)
Universal’s seven-month promotional campaign for “Disclosure Day” sought to remind summertime audiences that Mr. Spielberg was not a museum exhibit but rather a highly active filmmaker who is still able to command the culture. Mr. Spielberg, who does not typically trot the publicity circuit, journeyed in March to the South by Southwest film festival in Texas for a live podcast taping, setting the internet ablaze with comments about aliens. (“I have a strong suspicion we’re not alone on Earth right now.”)
He dropped by TikTok headquarters for a fan event and engaged in playful banter with #FilmTok content creators. He popped into a London pub for a movie quiz night. And he made a rare appearance on a late-night comedy show, chatting playfully with Stephen Colbert. The final “Disclosure Day” trailer even showcased him discussing the movie, rather than simply compiled footage from it.
Produced by Amblin Entertainment and released by Universal, “Disclosure Day” cost about $115 million to make and $80 million to market worldwide. It was No. 1 for the weekend in North America and has sold an estimated $49 million in tickets overseas, for a global total of $93 million.
Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colman Domingo, Eve Hewson and Colin Firth star in the film, which involves a race to disclose the truth: There are aliens living among us, and a powerful secret organization has covered it up for decades. David Koepp wrote the screenplay.
Reviews for “Disclosure Day” were strong — the best for one of Mr. Spielberg’s PG-13 films (including sequels) since “Minority Report,” according to Rotten Tomatoes, a review-aggregation site.
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