Movie theaters are being pummeled by a surprisingly poor Blade Runner performance
Movie theater stocks are getting hammered after the poor performance of Blade Runner 2049.
The movie was the best performing film on its opening weekend but pulled in much less than expected. The 35-year-later sequel to "Blade Runner" was expected to make between $45 - $55 million on its opening weekend but only grabbed $31.5 million, according to Box Office Mojo.
AMC Entertainment was down 6.74%, Cinemark was down 3.56% and Regal was down 3.99%. The movie missed estimates by as much as $23.5 million, but the Monday drop in stock price for the cinemas wiped about $303.23 million of value from the three companies.
The movie was received well by fans and critics but was about 2.5 hours long and catered to fans of the original movie. According to Cinemascore, only 14% of the weekend's watchers were under 25.
The movie cost about $150 million to make and market, according to Box Office Mojo. Its predecessor brought in $32.8 million in its lifetime, and was the second most popular movie on its opening weekend, coming in under the blockbuster E.T.
The movie theaters Monday drop just continues their 2017 declines. Cinemark is down 8.5% this year, Regal is down 27.98% this year and AMC is down 59.18% this year.
