A box office era ended over the weekend, as Will Smith, once Hollywood’s most dependable summer performer, imploded in spectacular fashion at North American theaters. Mr. Smith’s “After Earth,” a Sony Pictures Entertainment movie that cost $135 million to produce and roughly $100 million to market worldwide, took in an estimated $27 million from Friday to Sunday — or 18 percent less than the lowest of prerelease expectations.
The total for “After Earth,” a Scientology-tinged adventure, by far represents Mr. Smith’s worst summer-movie debut; “Wild Wild West,” which took in $38.7 million in 1999, after adjusting for inflation, was his previous low. What happened? Fingers will point to M. Night Shyamalan, who directed and co-wrote the movie, which received disastrous reviews. Sony, which recently came under shareholder pressure over profitability, picked a very competitive release window for the film.
But most of the blame belongs to Mr. Smith: “After Earth,” which also starred his teenage son, Jaden, was a vanity project conceived by Mr. Smith and produced by him, his wife and his brother-in-law. In a statement Sony said, “While we were expecting more domestically, we believe the film will perform strongly when we open overseas over the next few weeks.”
For the weekend, “Fast & Furious 6” (Universal) was No. 1, taking in about $34.5 million, for a two-week total of $170.4 million, according to Hollywood.com, which compiles box-office data. A new ensemble thriller, “Now You See Me” (Lionsgate) was second, selling a stronger-than-expected $28.1 million in tickets; the film cost $75 million to make and received an A-minus score from moviegoers in exit polls. “After Earth” was third.