Jonah Hex, after being lambasted by critics, had a disastrous opening weekend at the US box office, taking only $5.1 million despite opening widely across the country. In comparison, Toy Story 3 demolished the competition with $109 million.
While it’s not unreasonable that Jonah Hex would reap less from the box office than something like Spider-Man or a Batman flick, it’s still disappointing given the mid-blockbuster budget of the movie.
This year, we’ve seen the adaptation of Vertigo’s The Losers bomb in similar fashion (despite better reviews than Jonah Hex), and even though Kick-Ass more than made back its $30 million budget, given the usual popularity of the superhero sub-genre and the strength of its reviews, we were expecting more than a $95 million take.
Perhaps this will affect the chances of other mid-tier comic books making the transition to the big screen in future – certainly, it’ll be interesting to see how the rather awesome-looking Scott Pilgrim Versus The World will be received as an indicator of whether non-traditional superhero films can succeed.
Jonah Hex opens here later in the year.
