‘Wish Upon’ Sinks at the Box Office

I haven’t seen Wish Upon yet, and it seems I’m far from the only one. The film failed to perform well upon opening weekend, landing in the #7 slot and garnering an underwhelming $5 million haul at the box office. Working against a modest $12 million budget, that’s pretty much disastrous.

This is one of the movies hitting big screens in 2017 that I’m curious about. I was curious prior to release, and now that it has officially arrived, and received everything from glowing praise (our own Lois Kennedy enjoyed it quite a bit) to absolutely scathing reviews, I can’t help but wonder what the movie offers. The Tomato Meter has the flick sitting at a not-so-impressive 19%, and I admit that doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence.

Why this film flopping commercially however, is important because the genre has seen a major revival at the box office this year. A number of horror films have performed exceptionally well in 2017, and a number of horror films have landed in that coveted #1 spot. Wish Upon stands out in glaring fashion, joining only a few other duds, and even sputtering worse than the similarly vibed (based solely on the trailer) The Bye Bye Man, which actually opened quite a bit stronger with $13 million, before topping out with a worldwide take of $26 million. Not exactly a smash hit, either.

It doesn’t seem as though word-of-mouth is going to sway the crowds in this instance, and I may be best suited waiting for a home release. Given Wish Upon’s commercial faceplant, I may not be waiting long before the film is readily available on disc and VOD.

For the record, the post-apocalyptic, man versus animal flick, War for the Planet of the Apes, didn’t set the big screens ablaze, but it did yank down $56 million domestically for a #1 debut. The heavily-hyped sequel earned an addition $44 million on the international market, pushing the worldwide total just north of $100 million.