The box office numbers are in for the weekend and Straight Outta Compton reigns at number one for the third straight weekend, but at the other side of the spectrum is the Zac Efron-led movie We Are Your Friends bombed in historic fashion. The film about a young DJ with dreams of being a superstar in Los Angeles pulled in a dismal $1.8 million over the weekend.
The numbers are especially bad when you put it into context of how many theaters showed the film. It was shown in 2,333 locations, the worst major studio opening of all time for a film in 2,000 or more theaters, not accounting for inflation.
Other films who have had disappointing debuts with that level of distribution come from independents. Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure pulled in opening weekend numbers of $433,901 in 2012, Delgo ($511,920) in 2008 and the rerelease of Saw in 2014 ($650,051).
"This was a passion project for Zac Efron, and we believe in him," said Warner's exec VP for domestic distribution Jeff Goldstein to the Hollywood Reporter. "Yes, the result was disappointing, but this was a small film."
The film fell far short of its initial debut projection of $8 million. It is a good thing that Warner Bros Pictures only spent $2 million to distribute the film in North America on the behalf of Working Title Films and StudioCanal.
There could be a few reasons why the film did not do so well. It opened during many colleges opening weekend, when students are getting acclimated and going out to their first parties, not the movies.
The film received middle of the road reviews from movie critics, getting only a score of 46 from aggregator Metacritic.
Not even the good soundtrack, string of parties, Emily Ratajkowski and Wes Bentleycould have saved the film from its own demise.
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