M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller Trap managed a modest opening weekend after debuting to mixed reviews. While the film had a soft opening domestically compared to another thriller, Longlegs, it failed to make a substantial impression overseas, which is disappointing for a M. Night Shyamalan film, which was once known to rattle the box office.
With a budget of about $35 million that Shyamalan largely financed himself, Trap scored lower in reviews (48% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) than his films do and also secured an average C+ CinemaScore. However, Shyamalan’s recent films, including his last release, Old (50% on Rotten Tomatoes), have underwhelmed critics and audiences.
Trap features Josh Harnett as a serial killer, The Butcher. The film follows Harnett as he takes his daughter to a pop concert and realizes it is a trap laid out to snare him.
Trap appeared to struggle at the box office, raking in $20 million worldwide in the opening weekend. The film earned $15.6 million domestically and $4.4 million overseas. Compared to recent serial killer thriller Longlegs, which opened to over $20 million domestically and earned $22M worldwide, the film has underperformed at the Global box office.
The supernatural serial killer thriller Longlegs, which had a budget of $10M, also debuted to rave reviews, scoring 85% on Rotten Tomatoes.
In the wake of M Night Shyamalan’s modest performance, David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter for Franchise Entertainment, wrote “This is a soft opening for an M. Night Shyamalan suspense crime thriller. The writer/director’s movies out-earn other original thrillers by a wide margin, and that’s true here, but this start is not on the level of recent Shyamalan films.”
Note: Box office numbers are based on estimates and various sources. Numbers have not been independently verified by Koimoi.
