Marvel's Inhumans Opens To Disappointing $1.5 Million
It might be a good thing that Marvel abandoned their planned movie about the Inhumans. The first two episodes of the otherworldly characters' TV show premiered in IMAX this past weekend, and their disappointing $1.5 million haul is certainly not super news. (via Box Office Mojo)
The Inhumans series, set to debut on ABC this fall, follows the powerful royal family of Attilan after they are splintered by a military coup. This forces Black Bolt (Anson Mount), the silent king, to take the family on the run to Hawaii, where their interactions with humanity could not only save them but the whole world.
The series features an extensive ensemble cast, including Serinda Swan as Black Bolt's wife Medusa and Iwan Rheon as his villainous brother Maximus. The rest of the cast includes Isabelle Cornish as Medusa's younger sister Crystal (who has a sidekick in the 2,000 pound teleporting bulldog Lockjaw), Eme Ikwauakor as the leader of the Attilan military, Ken Leung as Black Bolt's trusted advisor Karnak, Mike Moh as Black Bolt's cousin Triton, Sonya Balmores as the no-nonsense head of the Royal Guards of Attilan, and Ellen Woglom and Henry Ian Cusick as new characters created for the show.
The premiere of the first two episodes in IMAX was intended to bring some buzz to the series, which is looking to anchor ABC's new Friday night genre programming block. However, while the series has been much discussed, most of it has been negative, with people criticizing the cheap look of the show's early trailers and with critics responding in kind when they saw the finished product.
While the cast has repeatedly touted the IMAX experience, it appears that viewers didn't quite buy it. The show's already low $2 million predictions were pushed down even further by the $1.5 million result, which came in a Labor Day weekend that will likely end up being the worst at the box office in almost 20 years.
With no new wide releases to compete with, Inhumans should have been able to jump in and grab some viewers. However, it looks like negative reviews and bad word of mouth pushed it below a number of consistent performers like Wonder Woman, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Annabelle: Creation. The experiment even failed to top the 40th anniversary rerelease of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which brought in $1.8 million. However, the movie had a better per theater average, bringing in an average of $3,817 from 393 screens.
While these numbers spell bad news for Inhumans' small screen run, there is some evidence pointing to the idea that the show could do better on TV. While the cast and crew touted the IMAX experience, many knocked them for being unable to offer a significant explanation for why audiences should shell out their hard earned cash for something they can watch for free. This may mean some potential fans waited to see the show later. The limited number of screens on which the show played could have also played a part in its low gross.
Inhumans' first two episodes are playing in IMAX theaters now, with the show moving over to the small screen on Sept. 29 for the remainder of its eight-episode run. While we wait to see how the show's box office performance translates into on screen ratings, see some of the other entertainment events you have to look forward to this month.