The Killer’s Game has broken a record for star Dave Bautista by hitting a box office low during its opening weekend. The new action-comedy movie, which also stars Sofia Boutella, Pom Klementieff, Terry Crews, Scott Adkins, and Ben Kingsley, follows a hit man (Bautista) who orders a hit on himself after receiving a terminal diagnosis, only to learn that he was misdiagnosed, at which point he is forced to fight for his life against multiple assassins. The Killer’s Game release opened the same weekend as the Blumhouse horror remake Speak No Evil and the documentary Am I Racist?.
Per Deadline, as of Sunday morning, The Killer’s Game is projected to earn a 3-day opening weekend total of $2.6 million at the domestic box office from 2,623 theaters. This is set to place it at No. 6 on the domestic chart below Am I Racist? at No. 4 and Speak No Evil at No. 2, both of which fell below the holdover hit Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which is in its sophomore weekend. The action-comedy has earned the lowest debut ever for a Dave Bautista movie, beating his previous low of $3.2 million for 2018’s Hotel Artemis.
What This Box Office Record Means For The Killer’s Game
Dave Bautista Thrives More As Part Of An Ensemble
This debut for The Killer’s Game may not bode well for Dave Bautista, who has held roles in many hit movies but typically is part of an ensemble in those projects, including the Dune and Guardians of the Galaxy movies. While Hotel Artemis was also an ensemble effort, his ensemble movies tend to perform best, including the 2022 whodunit Glass Onion, which only played in 696 theaters during its pre-Netflix limited release but nevertheless opened with $9.4 million. Below, see how the new movie ranks among the lowest debuts earned by Bautista movies that played in more than 100 theaters:
|
Title |
Opening Weekend |
|---|---|
|
The Killer’s Game (2024) |
$2.6 million |
|
Hotel Artemis (2018) |
$3.2 million |
|
The Man with the Iron Fists (2012) |
$7.9 million |
|
Stuber (2019) |
$8.2 million |
|
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) |
$9.4 million |
|
The Boy and the Heron (2023) |
$13 million |
|
Knock at the Cabin (2023) |
$14.1 million |
|
Riddick (2013) |
$19 million |
|
Blade Runner 2049 (2017) |
$32.7 million |
|
Dune (2021) |
$41 million |
Of Bautista’s ten lowest-grossing opening weekends, all three movies in which he can be considered to hold a lead role are among their number. While this excludes 2020’s My Spy, which moved to a streaming release on Prime Video amid theater closures during the COVID-19 pandemic but was successful enough to earn a sequel, his highest-grossing movies all see him playing major supporting roles rather than lead characters. This does not necessarily mean that he is not a financially viable star, but he may take a hit if the movie’s performance does not improve as its theatrical run continues.
Our Take On The Killer’s Game’s Box Office Debut
The Movie’s Prospects Are Still Murky
This debut does not necessarily mean that the action-comedy will be a commercial failure, especially because its budget is likely slimmer than many modern blockbuster tentpoles. The Killer’s Game ending also implies that a sequel could be a possibility, though te movie will likely need to have its prospects significantly improve first before that can happen. It does not seem especially likely to become a sleeper hit because it faces strong competition with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and the upcoming Transformers One, which may crowd out theaters, but it remains to be seen how it performs by the end of its run.
Source: Deadline
