Posted on 05/30/2017 1:50:50 PM PDT by drewh
The R-rated comedy with the combined star power of Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron could barely stay afloat at the Memorial Day box office after being savaged by reviewers.
Not even Dwayne Johnson could save Baywatch from sinking like a rock in its big-screen debut.
Crippled by critics, the R-rated adaptation of the classic TV action drama debuted to a dismal $23 million over the long Memorial Day weekend, well behind expectations. The film placed No. 3 after Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and holdover Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, now in its fourth weekend, despite the celebrity status enjoyed by Johnson, who stars opposite Zac Efron.
While the TV show was an action-drama, Paramount and Skydance decided to go in a different direction with the Baywatch movie adaptation, making it a comedy infused with as many F-bombs and penis jokes as brawn and bikinis.
In doing so, they hoped to emulate Sony's wildly successful R-rated comedic adaptation of 21 Jump Street, which earned $201.6 million in spring 2012, followed by $331.3 million for 22 Jump Street in summer 2014.
But the plot failed. The most striking difference between 21 Jump Street and Baywatch was the critical reaction. The former, starring Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill, garnered an 85 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to a 19 percent rotten rating for Baywatch.
"The reviews really hurt the film, which scored great in test screenings. We were all surprised," says Paramount's Megan Colligan, president of worldwide marketing and distribution. "It is a brand that maybe relied on a positive critical reaction more than we recognized. The cast could not have done more work in aggressively promoting Baywatch. Dwayne gave this 150 percent."
'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales'
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Box Office: 'Pirates 5' Clears $78M in U.S.; 'Baywatch' Capsizes With $23M
Roughly 45 percent of Baywatch ticket buyers were under the age of 25. Conventional wisdom might hold that younger consumers don't care as much about reviews as older moviegoers, but a recent internal study at Paramount concluded that younger ticket buyers pay close attention to aggregated scores on Rotten Tomatoes.
"There's no good way to battle it," says Colligan.
Early last week, tracking services put Baywatch's opening at $42 million or more. After reviews came out, those estimates fell to $37 million.
Baywatch's demise comes just months after CHiPs, another R-rated TV-to-film adaptation, failed at the box office. CHiPs, from Warner Bros., fared even worse than Baywatch, opening to $7.7 million and topping out at $34.2 million domestically and $6.9 million internationally.
Box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian says big-screen reboots of TV series are tough. "Messing with the formula and trying to update these beloved TV shows for today's marketplace is like trying to update a classic recipe by adding a modern twist, and in most cases it just doesn't work," he says.
Baywatch is a rare miss for Johnson. Last summer, PG-13 action comedy Central Intelligence, in which he starred alongside Kevin Hart, opened to $35 million over the June 17-19 weekend on its way to grossing $217 million globally. And in late May 2015, Johnson's San Andreas posted a three-day debut of $54.6 million before shaking its way to $474 million worldwide.
There is certainly precedence for programming Memorial Day weekend with R-rated comedies; The Hangover Part II debuted to $103.4 million over the holiday in 2011, followed by $50.3 million for The Hangover Part III in 2013 and $36 million for Sex and the City 2 in 2010.
Baywatch, which cost Paramount and Skydance under $70 million to produce before marketing, also stars Priyanka Chopra, Alexandra Daddario, Jon Bass, Kelly Rohrbach and Ilfenesh Hadera.
Baywatch opens in earnest overseas next week.
There was “Son of the Beach”, which was pretty funny for its dry delivery of sophomoric jokes.
The campy ironic/sophomoric reboot of old tv shows has been overdone.
I’d think at some level a film like the Mission Impossible or Star Trek series shows that there is a sizeable audience for another approach.
It failed because it is a useless hot mess
that hard R rating killed Chips too, a major miscalculation...
The jet ski chase scene was filmed in my back yard...Literally.
We live in the marina that was used in the movie.
Spent the afternoon sitting around watching the non-action.
There was Treewatch on the short lived Chimp Channel.
I’d take a movie of that over what’s playing now.
The same Dwayne Johnson who wants to challenge Trump in 2020?
That’s before P&A
That’s before P&A
HaHaHaHaHaHa...my heart bleeds. Guess that may postpone his presidency run for a while.
“The Rock” is mighty sensitive about his movie tanking...
https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/05/29/dwayne-the-rock-johnson-slams-critics-baywatch-box-office/
I think Hollyweird will try the tranny version of Baywatch next.... then they will berate the American public for not rushing to see their latest spew.
Well, now I’m puzzled.
Is it Baywatch
or
Gaywatch?
Don’t know whose picture that is, but she really needs to see a plastic surgeon for some lip reduction if she wants to pass for white.
Hollywood doesn’t have anything new . . . that is why they are rehashing these old shows.
If they come out with a new theme in a movie they know they’ll be sued by someone that already has written a screenplay for something similar.
Have not seen it, but there are a lot of good movies out right now. Pirates, Guardians Vol. II, Beauty and the Beast, Aliens, King Arthur, Fast and Furious number 127 (or whatever),... A lot of choices if you like movies.
We only go a few times a year now. So we chose Guardians vol. II. Loved it. Oh, and the lead is somewhat conservative.
Awful.
Fat, Hair Hat and Flat. I’ve got bigger boobs than the blonde and I’m a dude.
Yes, re: overseas returns. Isn’t the female lead a major Bollywood star? Chopra is her name. That ensures huge ticket sales in India and many other nations that love Bollywood productions.
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