“Dear Evan Hansen” Debut Crushed By “Shang-Chi” In Fourth Week At North American Box Office

“Dear Evan Hansen” may have been a hit on Broadway, but Tony’s film adaptation of the award-winning show is slowly starting at the box office on its first weekend in theaters. The musical Universal, which plays exclusively in theaters, grossed around $ 7.5 million from 3,364 locations, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

The top spot went to Disney and Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”, which added $ 13.3 million in ticket sales in North America, bringing its national total to $ 196.5 million. dollars. The superhero photo has topped the charts for four weekends in a row and surpassed “Black Widow” this weekend to become the biggest national earner in the pandemic.

With little top-level competition this weekend, “Dear Evan Hansen ”’s $ 7.3 million was enough to land him in second place. While critics were less than impressed, the audience that showed up this weekend were fans and awarded it an A-CinemaScore. Women made up about 62% of the audience according to exit polls. Directed by Stephen Chbosky and written by Steven Levenson, “Dear Evan Hansen” is about a high school student with social anxiety disorder.

“We are extremely proud of ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ and everything that goes with it,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s Head of Distribution. “With an exceptional film and excellent audience scores, we believe this will lead to a better than normal run at the domestic box office.”

Despite her prestigious pedigree and star-studded cast including Julianne Moore and Amy Adams, “Dear Evan Hansen” has become something of a social media punching bag since it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month. . At the heart of the jokes is the fact that the film has a 27-year-old Ben Platt, who originally started the role, playing a teenage boy.

“Musicals have always had mixed results at the box office,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. “It’s really hard to determine and project what a musical could earn on opening weekend, especially in this market.”

Earlier this year, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s adaptation of “In the Heights” disappointed at the box office despite stellar reviews – but it was also airing simultaneously on HBO Max.

The single-digit opening weekend of “Dear Evan Hansen” reminded some “Cats” that opened at $ 6.6 million in December 2019. But “Dear Evan Hansen” cost a lot less – 28 million dollars versus $ 95 million – on top of the fact that “Cats” threw worse reviews in a pre-pandemic environment.

“‘Cats’ is a completely different movie released in a completely different market. I don’t think the comparisons are necessarily fair,” Dergarabedian said. “It’s more about the public making a choice.”

There is also the exception “The Greatest Showman”. The Hugh Jackman musical defied box office logic in 2017 and 2018 when it opened at $ 8.8 million, but grossed over $ 434.9 million worldwide. Justin Paul and Benj Pasek were the songwriting duo behind “The Greatest Showman” and “Dear Evan Hansen”.

“Shang-Chi” aside, September was slow for most films. This weekend’s # 3 movie was “Free Guy,” which has been in theaters for seven weeks and sixth place went to “Jungle Cruise,” in its ninth week. But bigger blockbusters hit North American theaters starting in October, with the sequel to “Venom” coming Friday, the James Bond film “No Time to Die” following October 8 and “Dune” on Friday. October 22.

“It’s the proverbial calm before the storm. October looks like maybe one of the biggest months of the year at the box office,” Dergarabedian said. “It will be like summer in October in theaters.”

And “Dune” is already operational in 32 markets abroad. The adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi novel grossed $ 76.5 million in two weeks.

Estimated Friday-Sunday ticket sales at US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final national figures will be released on Monday.

1. “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” $ 13.3 million.

2. “Dear Evan Hansen”, $ 7.5 million.

3. “Free Boy”, $ 4.1 million.

4. “Candyman”, $ 2.5 million.

5. “Cry Macho”, $ 2.1 million.

6. “Jungle Cruise”, $ 1.7 million.

7. “Malignant”, $ 1.5 million.

8. “Copshop”, $ 1.3 million.

9. “Paw Patrol”, $ 1.1 million.

10. “Love story”, $ 893,765.