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Priyanka Chopra’s Baywatch stuck in the sand, box office as disappointing as reviews
Baywatch, Priyanka Chopra’s debut Hollywood film, opened to disappointing reception at the US box office ahead of its India release on June 2.
Priyanka Chopra’s debut Hollywood movie Baywatch is having a seaside battle with Johnny Depp’s fifth Pirates of the Caribbean film at the box office -- and there’s a clear winner.
Deadline reports that Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (Salazar’s Revenge in India) opened to an estimated $24-$26 million (approximately Rs 160 crore) in its US debut on Friday. Baywatch, which stars Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron in leading roles, made $6-$7 million (Rs 41 crore).
The reboot of the hit ’90s TV show starring Pamela Anderson and David Hasselhoff was pushed by one week in India, to avoid competition. The film has been produced at an estimated budget of $69 million (Rs 445 crore). Meanwhile, the latest Pirates of the Caribbean film was made for $230 million (approximately Rs 1500 crore).
Deadline is already calling Baywatch’s opening numbers “slow”.
“Baywatch is stuck in the sand, playing slow in its first two nights of evening play so grosses might even dip lower. Will see how it plays tonight but so far it’s not seeing any big audience play on that rating,” the report says, alluding to its R rating, which restricts the film to audiences over the age of 17.
The film could also have been hurt by negative reviews. It currently stands at 18% on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.
But the producers are already preparing a sequel. At a New York screening on Friday, producer Beau Flynn told Variety that the already have an “amazing story” for the second film. “We’re bringing back Shannon and Swift who wrote on the first one, and I know Dwayne would be in, I know Zac and all the girls would be. We just have this really cool idea to put them in this whole new world. We would take it overseas.”
Baywatch is scheduled for a June 2 release in India. Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge is playing in theatres.
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