‘Firestarter’ Flames-Out; ‘Dr. Strange’ Suffers Fall - Week 2

Remakes are tricky things. Do you try to show how different you are from the original film or do you try to make it look like it’s the same thing with just a fresh coat of paint? Firestarter seemed to do neither of the above by making it look like the exact same thing without even painting the damn house. 

I swear, the first time I saw the new poster I thought it was advertising the 1984 movie as like some 40th Anniversary Edition of the Drew Barrymore film. When I log onto Peacock, I’m not even sure which icon is for the new movie and which one is for the old one they dusted-off unless I look at the year in the small print. Was the marketing strategy to trick people into seeing the new version when they’re trying to watch the old one?

Good news… Apparently, no one wanted to catch either movie! The 2022 version burned-up on re-entry as it debuted to a $3.8 million total. That’s amazingly even worse than the 1984 version fared when it started with a $4.7 million weekend! Truth be told, $4.7 million wasn’t “terrible” in 1984, but it still wasn’t great. 

While we can all hope this leads to a remake of Maximum Overdrive, which even Stephen King admits he was coked out of brain while writing and directing his first (and only) film, there’s nothing funny about Dr. Strange and its massive fall from Week 1 to Week 2.

Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness summoned $61.8 million to bring its total gross to $292.6 million. Really good stuff, by most accounts. There’s something sour in the sugar that makes his medicine go down, though, and that’s a 67% drop between Strange’s first and second weekend. A drop that happened with ZERO competition opening against it. 

The blockbusters with the best legs (staying power) usually dip 50-60% after massive weekends. A dip this high is not a good sign. However, ancient history may not be the best indicator for films released in pandemic/post-pandemic era. 

Fast 9 and Black Widow both had high 60% drops after opening last summer. Even the smash success of Spider-Man: No Way Home over the holiday season had a high 60% drop. Maybe this is the new norm with bigger front-loads and bigger collapses. Still, if Strange keeps falling at this rate, it may not take something magical for another film to surpass its total this season. 

The Top Five If Today Was Labor Day:

#1. Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - $292.6 million

#2. Firestarter - $3.8 million

#3. n/a

#4. n/a

#5. n/a