Dear Evan Hansen, the movie adaptation of the smash-hit musical, flopped hard at the box office, coming in at number 2 behind Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which continues to crush it at the domestic box office. The Universal musical opened exclusively in theaters this weekend and only grossed an estimated $7.5 million from 3,364 locations, according to studio estimates. The movie-musical was projected for $10 million and still failed to meet that mark.
While Dear Evan Hansen has a strong fanbase of its stage musical, many may have been turned off by early word-of-mouth for this adaptation. Critics slammed this film with many criticizing the film’s misguided narrative and its casting decisions, including Ben Platt. Platt did play the main role on stage but he’s 28 now and the decision to cast him as a high-schooler is one that was noticeable throughout the movie. The film currently holds a 33% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes.
However, Dear Evan Hansen will not be as huge of a box office flop as Universal’s last musical adaptation, Cats. According to CNBC, Cats “ultimately lost the studio a large chunk of its $100 million budget.” Dear Evan Hansen only has a production budget of $28 million including marketing so even if it’s unable to make that money back, Universal will not see as large of a loss. However, the competition for Dear Evan Hansen is only going to get worse as Venom: Let There Be Carnage debuts this weekend and October overall is loaded with huge studio releases.
Meanwhile, Shang-Chi had another nice weekend, adding $13.3 million in North America, bringing its domestic total to $196.5 million. It passed fellow Marvel Studios film Black Widow to become the highest-grossing domestic film of the year. Shang-Chi also tied an MCU record by winning the weekend box office for the fourth week in a row, sharing this honor with Black Panther and Guardians of the Galaxy. However, with Venom: Let There Be Carnage debuting this weekend, Shang-Chi‘s reign may be coming to an end.
