'Mother!' takes a 'Black Swan' dive at the box office, but that might be good news
Black Swan didn't open big either, for what it's worth.
Mother!, the latest mindf*ck from writer/director Darren Aronofsky with stars Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem, is off to a seemingly slow start at the box office. Despite opening this weekend in more than 2,300 theaters, the current three-day domestic estimate is $7.5 million.
That's less than one-third of the movie's reported $30 million budget. It's still enough to land Mother! in the #3 slot on the weekend box office charts, behind fellow newcomer American Assassin ($14.8 million) and record-breaking horror champ It ($60 million).
I want to repeat myself so I can emphasize: It's a seemingly slow start. That $7.5 million is actually the second-best opening to date for Darren Aronofsy, behind the big-budget domestic flop, Noah ($43.7 million). It's still ahead of The Fountain and, more importantly, Black Swan.
Black Swan, released in Dec. 2010, had an opening weekend of just $1.4 million at the domestic box office. It's still Aronofsky's biggest hit in the U.S., with a $107 million total box office; it's also #2 for the director behind Noah globally, with $329.4 million (against Noah's $362.6 million).
Much like Mother!, Black Swan leans in on delivering a surreal, frequently difficult-to-comprehend story that is heavy on the symbolism and subtext. Mother! isn't buzzy in quite the same way as Black Swan, but both movies were greeted warmly by critics while general audiences expressed confusion.
Mother! also arrives in a world with much more developed social media platforms than its predecessor. People are talking about this movie a great deal: the ones that liked it, the ones that didn't, and the ones that just want to figure out what the hell was actually going on.
All of which is to say: Don't read too much into what looks like a very slow start at the box office. Mother! is making waves, but we won't start seeing the full extent of how it all ripples out for a few more weeks.
All current and historical box office data was provided by comScore and BoxOfficeMojo.
Topics Film
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
