Box Office Results: Kingdom of Heaven and House of Wax

The official start of the summer movie season was anything but epic, with overall business for the first weekend of May the lowest since 1999 at an estimated USD 77 million for the top 12 pictures. The box office slump continues, and Hollywood is praying that Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith revitalizes people’s interest in moviegoing when it opens May 19.

Kingdom of Heaven, director Ridley Scott’s USD 130 million plus tale about the Crusades, captured an estimated USD 20 million at 3,216 locations-the weakest major No. 1 summer kickoff since 1991’s Backdraft in terms of tickets sold. According to distributor 20th Century Fox’s exit polling, the audience was 66 percent over the age of 25 and 52 percent male.

The Medieval era has been an unappealing subject to audiences in recent decades. At USD 165.5 million, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is the only picture of its ilk to top USD 100 million domestically, while Braveheart is a distant second at USD 75.6 million. Aside from those two pictures, the results usually range from disappointment to failure, including A Knight’s Tale, First Knight and The 13th Warrior. Not even Midas touch producer Jerry Bruckheimer could resurrect the genre with last summer’s King Arthur. The setting also hasn’t translated to comedy (Black Knight) nor science fiction (Timeline).

Mr. Scott revived the sword-and-sandal epic after a near 40-year drought with Gladiator in 2000. It opened to USD 34.8 million at 2,938 venues on its way to USD 187.7 million, capitalizing on a concise marketing campaign about an underdog and his revenge. Kingdom of Heaven’s ad campaign lacked clarity, and it failed to stress the importance of the Crusades and its relevance-many people are unfamiliar with that time of history-whereas ancient Greece, the Roman Empire and recent events carry more recognition.

Lead actor Orlando Bloom, in his first top-billed role after appearing in such costumed epics as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Pirates of the Caribbean and Troy, may be short on the dramatic heft needed to attract audiences to what was a tough sell to begin with, as was the case with Colin Farrell in Alexander. His part as Paris in Troy was unflattering, and-fairly or not-he has been branded as more heartthrob than the next Russell Crowe.

Historical war epics rooted in world history typically make three quarters of their worldwide gross outside of the United States and Canada-that was the case for such titles as Troy, The Last Samurai, King Arthur and Alexander. To that end, Kingdom of Heaven amassed an estimated USD 56 million overseas in around 100 territories-everywhere except Japan and China-ranking No. 1 in virtually all markets in its simultaneous international roll-out.