As I opined last weekend when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 had its massive opening weekend, the second biggest 2017 opening stateside, things are not looking great for King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. Guy Ritchie's latest attempt to adapt classical literature as if it were a truck commercial didn't have a lot of buzz going into the opening weekend and by the time the reviews came in, there wasn't a whole lot more good will going its way. (That being said, our very own Matt Goldberg said there were some fascinating elements to Ritchie's follow-up to the far superior The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) On Friday, the movie took in an estimated $5.3 million, falling well below Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 at the top spot with $16.4 million. From the looks of things, Ritchie's latest will be looking at an $18 million dollar weekend, which is not great for Warner Bros.
Elsewhere, things seemed to be staying on a steady course. Snatched, the Mother's Day adventure-comedy starring Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn, is currently in the third spot at the box office with $5 million. Again, there was not a lot of positive buzz pushing the comedy from The Night Before helmer Jonathan Levine into a weekend with the second Guardians movie still thriving. The Fate of the Furious brought in $1.3 million to come in at the fourth spot above The Boss Baby with $965,000.
The Fate of the Furious will likely have at least one more weekend in the top five next weekend, considering that both Snatched and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword will almost certainly see a tremendous drop in sales between this weekend and next. And this isn't even bringing up the fact that next weekend will bring Alien: Covenant, Ridley Scott's latest volume in his most popular franchise, which will likely unseat Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 from its number one spot. Covenant has been splitting the room as far as critics go - I, for one, think it's one of Scott's most ambitious films to date - but the Alien franchise can now comfortably stand on its own two feet without overwhelming worry about tepid or even negative critical response. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the new releases this weekend.
