Box Office: 'In the Heart of the Sea' Flops With $11 Million Debut

By Brent Lang
LOS ANGELES, Dec 13 (Variety.com) - Ron Howard's "In the
Heart of the Sea" sunk at the box office, mustering up a measly
$11 million after debuting in 3,103 theaters.
It's a painful flop for the director behind "A Beautiful
Mind" and "Apollo 13." One of the worst of his Oscar-winning
career. With an $100 million production budget, the film will
likely result in a steep write down for Warner Bros., the studio
behind the seafaring epic. "In the Heart of the Sea's" failure
is the latest in a long string of missteps and disasters for the
company, which is reeling from a litany of disasters that
includes "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.," "Jupiter Ascending," and
"Pan." The studio did catch a break over Thanksgiving when
"Creed" emerged as a sleeper hit and its financial exposure is
softened on "In the Heart of the Sea" because Village Roadshow
was a financial partner.
"In the Heart of the Sea" reunites Howard with Chris
Hemsworth. The pair previously collaborated on the racing drama
"Rush." It centers on the Essex, a whaling vessel that had a
violent encounter with a sperm whale. The nautical disaster
inspired Herman Melville's"Moby Dick." Outside of the "Thor"
movies, Hemsworth has struggled to establish himself as a box
office draw -- "Rush" and this year's cyber thriller "Blackhat"
both fizzled.
The film is the latest adult oriented drama to collapse at
the box office, joining a list that includes "Steve Jobs," "Our
Brand is Crisis," and "Burnt." The opening weekend audience for
"In the Heart of the Sea" skewed older. Ticket buyers were 54%
male and 68% over the age of 35.
Of course, the whole weekend was a throat clearing of sorts
as the movie business braces for the debut of "Star Wars: The
Force Awakens" next week. The return to a galaxy far, far away
is on pace to shatter records for a December opening and could
threaten "Jurassic World's" debut of $208.8 million to become
the biggest launch in history.
With "In the Heart of the Sea" flailing, "Hunger Games:
Mockingjay - Part 2"will likely capture first place for the
fourth straight weekend with roughly $11.3 million. The
science-fiction franchise capper has earned million
domestically.