Steven Spielberg may have just done something he’s never done before in his 42-year career — come out with a summer blockbuster that bombed at the box office.
“The BFG,” Spielberg’s adaptation of the beloved Roald Dahl children’s book, came in fourth place this week at the box office races, taking in a lowly $22.3 million in its opening weekend.
The underwhelming results virtually guarantee that “The BFG” will not recoup its considerable $140 million budget.
Walt Disney studios must be crossing their fingers in hopes that the film performs better overseas. “The BFG” was expected by many industry insiders to be one of the summer’s top grossing films.
Spielberg’s mainstream offerings rarely miss their mark. His most recent blockbusters were “The Adventure of Tintin,” which raked in more than $373 million worldwide in 2011, and the “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” which earned $786 million worldwide.