Disney's $190m Clooney blockbuster Tomorrowland flops: Movie rakes in just $40 million in the worst Memorial Weekend box office sales since 2001

  • The movie starring George Clooney cost $190 million to make 
  • It needed $50m at the box office this weekend, it will finish with $40m
  • Critics warn the result could deter financiers from funding original stories
  • Nonetheless, it finished first ahead of Universal's Pitch Perfect 2 

By Mia De Graaf For Dailymail.com and Reuters

Published: 12:49 EST, 24 May 2015 | Updated: 08:16 EST, 25 May 2015

Disney's major summer blockbuster Tomorrowland was a bust at the box office when it opened this weekend - the worst overall since 2001.

The big budget science-fiction adventure starring George Clooney topped the charts, finished ahead of Pitch Perfect 2, on Sunday.

However, it is slated to pull in a lackluster $40 million across Memorial Day weekend, a far cry from the $50 million executives were banking on. Overseas figures were an underwhelming $26.7 million.  

It means the highly-anticipated movie, which cost around $190 million to make, will struggle to earn a profit.

Critics warn the figures could deter major financiers from funding original stories. 

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Disappointment: George Clooney's new blockbuster Tomorrowland (pictured) has taken a lackluster $40 million at the box office on its opening weekend. The big budget movie needed to reach $50 million

Disappointment: George Clooney's new blockbuster Tomorrowland (pictured) has taken a lackluster $40 million at the box office on its opening weekend. The big budget movie needed to reach $50 million

Tomorrowland appears to have been dinted by middling reviews and an overly secretive marketing campaign that left too many plot details under wraps. 

The film's opening weekend crowd was 51 per cent male, with adults making up 61 per cent of ticket-buyers and families comprising just 30 per cent of customers. It received a mediocre B CinemaScore, indicating mixed word-of-mouth.

Disney distribution chief Dave Hollis insisted the film would pick up steam as schools let out, noting it is the only PG-rated release in the month of May.

'The trade off when you're taking a bit of a chance on a new piece of [intellectual property] is that... it takes audiences a little longer to find a film,' he said, adding, 'This one is going to find its audience.'

Hollis said consumers initially seemed to respond to marketing materials that teased the film's plot elements while keeping plot information close to the chest, but the studio would comb over exit data to see if the strategy backfired.

Second: Pitch Perfect 2 finished second behind Tomorrowland at the box office this weekend

Second: Pitch Perfect 2 finished second behind Tomorrowland at the box office this weekend

'We wanted it to be something that was cool and edgy and mysterious,' he said.

Universal's Pitch Perfect 2 came in a close second at the box office this weekend with anestimated $30.3 million three-day haul and a projected $37.9million for the four days. The acappella comedy's domestic totalstands at $125.4 million. 

The weekend's other new wide release, Poltergeist, pulled in $23 million from 3,240 locations for the three days and will make roughly $27.7 million for its first four days.

The horror remake cost an economical $35 million to produce and was backed by Fox 2000 and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Warner Bros.' Mad Max: Fury Road had a solid hold, adding $23.8 million in its second weekend and pushing its domestic total to $87.3 million.

It will do approximately $30 million worth of business over the four-day weekend. Still, with a budget of $150 million, plus promotion and marketing costs, the apocalyptic adventure has a lot of ground left to cover before it pushes into the black.

Avengers: Age of Ultron rounded out the top five, with the superhero sequel nabbing $20.9 million and driving its stateside haul to $404.1 million.

Among art house releases, Fox Searchlight's Far From the Madding Crowd expanded from 289 theaters to 865 locations, picking up $2.3 million in the process. The adaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel has earned $5.4 million.

The overall box office will likely trail last year's Memorial Day weekend, when X-Men: Days of Future Past opened to $90.8 million, by 19 per cent. It also won't even crack the top ten Memorial Day weekends of all time.

'All it takes is one big movie to power a Memorial Day weekend, and we didn't have that,' said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak.

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