Steven Spielberg is a lot of things. Hollywood icon. Merchant of nostalgia. Daddy dinosaur.
But is he cool?
The 79-year-old filmmaker returned to the summer box office this weekend for the first time in a decade with “Disclosure Day,” an original sci-fi spectacle. It collected about $44 million from 3,824 theaters in the United States and Canada from Thursday to Sunday, according to Rentrak, an entertainment data service.
“A very good opening,” said David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter on box office figures, pointing out that original stories are inherently harder to market than established franchises. A week ago, “Disclosure Day” was on track to gross about $35 million in its first weekend, with analysts basing that estimate on anticipated ticket sales and surveys of moviegoer interest.
The main reason for this uncertainty was that no one, not even Universal Pictures, the studio behind “Disclosure Day,” was sure the film would appeal to younger moviegoers. They’re the ones who usually rush to see new films and have recently had very big opening weekends for films like “Backrooms.”
And if teens and young adults don’t show up, could “Disclosure Day” rely on older moviegoers to pick up the slack? Ticket buyers over 34 – “old” according to Hollywood – have been the slowest to return to theaters since the pandemic.
In the end, the elders saved the day. About 59 percent of the “Disclosure Day” audience was over the age of 34, according to PostTrak, a film research company.
Compare that with “Backrooms,” a cooler-than-thou horror film (from a 20-year-old first-time director who’s built a following on YouTube) that managed to sell a staggering $81.4 million in tickets during its opening weekend last month. About 14% of ticket buyers for “Backrooms” during its first three days in theaters were over 34.
Mr. Spielberg has not had a success (aside from sequels or remakes) at the summer box office — a crucial Hollywood season that he helped define — in 24 years. His most recent attempt, “The BFG,” raked in a disastrous $19 million in its first weekend of 2016, or about $27 million when adjusted for inflation. That left “Minority Report” as its latest new-to-screen summer blockbuster. It starred Tom Cruise in his prime and opened to $36 million in 2002, or $68 million when adjusted for inflation.
Mr. Spielberg has certainly enjoyed more recent successes. The sci-fi adventure “Ready Player One” was released in spring 2018 and reached $42 million in opening weekend ticket sales, or $57 million in today’s dollars. But he nevertheless faces a generational challenge: his name above the title no longer automatically mobilizes a large number of young people as before, analysts believe.
Younger moviegoers tend to view Mr. Spielberg less as a current cinematic force than as a historical figure — the filmmaker against whom all others measure themselves. In contrast, directors like Christopher Nolan, Ryan Coogler and Greta Gerwig are more likely to inspire the kind of fervor that turns opening weekends into events, analysts say. (When tickets for early deluxe screenings of Mr. Nolan’s next film, “The Odyssey,” went on sale last week, some ticketing sites crashed. Wait times to purchase stretched to hours at others.)
Universal’s seven-month promotional campaign for “Disclosure Day” was intended to remind summer audiences that Mr. Spielberg was not a museum exhibit but rather a very active filmmaker who is still capable of mastering culture. Mr. Spielberg, who does not usually travel the advertising circuit, visited the South by Southwest film festival in Texas in March for a live podcast taping, setting the Internet ablaze with comments about aliens. (“I strongly suspect we are not alone on Earth right now.”)
He visited TikTok headquarters for a fan event and engaged in playful banter with #FilmTok content creators. He went to a London pub for a film quiz night. And he made a rare appearance on a late-night comedy show, chatting playfully with Stephen Colbert. The final trailer for “Disclosure Day” even showed him discussing the film, rather than just compiling footage of it.
Produced by Amblin Entertainment and released by Universal, “Disclosure Day” cost approximately $115 million to make and $80 million to market worldwide. It was the weekend’s number one hit in North America, and its overseas ticket sales are estimated at $49 million, for a worldwide total of $93 million.
Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colman Domingo, Eve Hewson and Colin Firth star in the film, which involves a race to reveal the truth: aliens live among us, and a powerful secret organization has been covering it up for decades. David Koepp wrote the screenplay.
Reviews for “Disclosure Day” have been good — the best for any of Mr. Spielberg’s PG-13 films (including sequels) since “Minority Report,” according to Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregation site.
