Whalefall just belly-flopped at the box office. 20th Century Studios’ survival thriller opened well below expectations this weekend, landing at No. 4 as a key demographic overlap crushed its chances.
Whalefall crashes at box office, ends up at No. 4
20th Century Studios’ Whalefall crashed at the domestic box office this weekend with just $8 million from 3,065 theaters, according to Box Office Mojo. The survival thriller landed at No. 4, well below tracking estimates of $10 million to $12 million. The film carries a reported $60 million production budget, making the opening a significant disappointment for Disney’s specialty label.
Paramount’s Street Fighter dominated the weekend with a $31 million debut from 3,575 locations. A24’s Elizabeth Holmes documentary You Can See Everything grabbed the No. 2 spot with a strong $15 million. Other Mommy held third place with $44.8 million, pushing Whalefall further down the chart behind three other titles.
The overlap in male demographics between Street Fighter and Whalefall played a key role in the latter’s poor showing. Deadline reported that Street Fighter pulled in a heavily male audience, with 45% of its ticket buyers aged over 35. That older male crowd largely chose the video game adaptation over Brian Duffield’s whale survival thriller.
Whalefall earned $900,000 from Thursday preview screenings before dropping to just $3 million on Friday. The film added $9.5 million from international markets for a $17.5 million worldwide opening. It performed best in China with $700,000 and showed moderate results across Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Austin Abrams, who leads the film, fared better in his other current release. Sony’s Resident Evil earned $22.6 million worldwide in its fifth weekend, outpacing Whalefall’s global debut. Josh Brolin, Elisabeth Shue, and Jane Levy round out the cast.
The film, based on Daniel Kraus’ bestselling novel, follows a scuba diver swallowed by a sperm whale. Whalefall holds a 70% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but decent reviews failed to translate into strong ticket sales against a crowded October marketplace.
