No Time to Die may have thrown off the shackles of being delayed by eighteen months to earn $756 million and counting at the box office, but another action-packed blockbuster rooted heavily in espionage that’s been pushed back even longer doesn’t stand a chance of coming into the same stratosphere if recent projections are any indication.
While The Secret Service and The Golden Circle performed almost identically from a commercial perspective after bringing in $414 million and $410 million respectively at the box office, prequel The King’s Man will be lucky if it even makes it halfway to those figures. As per Box Office Pro, the organization’s origin story is tracking for an opening weekend of $10-15 million, and an entire domestic run of $35-55 million.
There are a number of reasons behind the low forecast, one of which is the struggles R-rated titles have continued to face during the pandemic. Then there’s a release on either side of Spider-Man: No Way Home and The Matrix Resurrections, two effects-driven epics that are aimed at largely the same demographic as The King’s Man.
Matthew Vaughn’s latest was initially scheduled for November 2019, but 25 months is a hell of a long time for the buzz to wear off ahead of a December 22 premiere, never mind a brief 45-day theatrical window before it presumably streams on Hulu and Disney Plus’ STAR expansion as a former 20th Century Fox project.