This article is from the archive of our partner .
Tom Cruise's latest sci-fi action movie, Edge of Tomorrow, is getting fantastic reviews, but it has a weak box office forecast. What gives? Is it doomed to be underrated, at least here in America?
The Wall Street Journal's Ben Fritz wrote today that the movie, which stars Cruise and Emily Bunt, is "poised to be Hollywood’s first big budget flop of the summer." Doug Liman's film, in which Cruise's character is forced to live the same day battling aliens over and over again, cost $178 million, making a predicted box office haul in the $20 to $30 million range look pretty paltry. Fritz credits two reasons for its potential for an underwhelming gross: the fact that it is not a sequel or part of a franchise and the fact that it stars Tom Cruise. Another potential stumbling block: it's going up against The Fault in Our Stars. Variety's Brent Lang is giving an "edge" to Fault, which has a "crack social media campaign," and will "almost certainly double or triple its $12 million production cost in a single weekend."
But what about those great reviews? Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations Co. told The Wire that Edge of Tomorrow's "prospects have been rising in the last couple of weeks," after box office sages lowballed its opening numbers initially. Bock now thinks it will open in the low- to mid-$30 million rage Meanwhile, Managing Editor of IMDb Keith Simanton told us that he estimates a $35 million or higher opening weekend, with the "inordinately good" word of mouth going around.