Despite an all-star cast that includes Kevin Hart and Oscar winners Cate Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Black’s Borderlands took a dive at the box office with an opening weekend take that will be lucky to top $10 million.
Borderlands is also a popular IP. The science-fiction space western is based on a best-selling series of video games. With a budget that ranges from $110 to $120 million (I’d add another $20 or $30 million for promotion), Borderlands is already a full-blown catastrophe.
Terrible reviews and a troubled production history might have had something to do with this disaster. The movie had the stench of a box office bomb all over it. Generally, though, a cast like that can at least get you to a $20 million opening. Part of the problem might very well be the scandal surrounding Jack Black.
Just a day after former President Donald Trump was shot in the face in a failed assassination attempt, Black’s Tenacious D bandmate Kyle Gass took to the stage in Australia and said his birthday wish was that the next assassin not miss Trump. Black reacted by laughing, and the show marched on.
Within a couple of days, though, the backlash forced Gass to apologize, and Black announced he was canceling the remaining dates of the Tenacious D tour.
Elsewhere at the box office, non-woke movies made for Normal People continue to make a fortune.
In its third weekend, Deadpool & Wolverine is expected to remain at number one with a $53 million haul, which will put it close to $500 million domestically and $1 billion worldwide. Gee, I thought for sure all the whining about Deadpool’s gay jokes (which I bet are hilarious) would result in empty theaters.
Expected at number two is a nice and normal woman’s picture starring Blake Lively (wife to Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds). Based on a mega-selling novel, It Ends with Us is expected to open at around $40 million.
Two other Normal People movies, Twisters and Despicable Me 4, will take third and fourth place. In weekend four, Twisters will earn around $15.4 million, which puts its domestic total at $223 million. In its sixth weekend, Despicable Me 4 will earn $10 million, which puts its running total at $332 million domestically.
Meanwhile, woke movies obsessed with identity over merit, homosexuality, sexless girl bosses, and left-wing lectures continue to bomb at a nearly 100 percent rate.
John Nolte’s first and last novel Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.