Despite having an A-list cast and a pretty relevant storyline, Emma Watson's The Circle failed to light up the box office this weekend, debuting at number four on the US box office chart.
The film took just $9.3 million in its opening weekend against an $18 million budget, and fell short of its projected double digit first weekend total takings, according to Variety.
Tapping into the phenomenon that is social media, the film is based on Dave Eggers' novel and follows a young woman who gets an exciting job at powerful internet corporation known as The Circle, where she takes part in an ultimately dangerous experiment.
The Circle stars a number of big box office names alongside Watson, including the likes of Doctor Who and Guardians of the Galaxy star Karen Gillan, Star Wars actor John Boyega and everyone's favourite Tom Hanks, but it seems not even that was enough of a draw to pull more audiences to the cinema.
And its opening numbers are a bit of a departure from Watson's other starring role so far this year too, as the actress previously took on the lead role in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, which quickly took $1 billion worldwide to make it the biggest live-action movie musical ever made.
But then again, it feels like no film will be able to stop Fast & Furious 8 – aka The Fate and the Furious – right now.
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The mega franchise's latest instalment became the second film of 2017 to crash head on into that $1 billion global box office milestone this weekend, and is still sitting pretty at the top of the US box office chart too, pulling in another $19.4 million in its third week of release.
Elsewhere in the box office, the second and third spots went to two new entries, with comedy film How to be a Latin Lover debuting in the number two spot and Indian epic Baahubali 2: The Conclusion coming in third, earning just over $10 million in its first week of release.
The Circle is in fourth place, while rounding out the top five is Alec Baldwin's The Boss Baby, having earned another $9.1 million in its fifth week of release to make a total US gross of $148.5 million so far.
Which isn't bad going for a film that tells the story of the epic battle between babies and puppies.
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Tasha is a freelance writer for with a particular interest in the representation of women in film and TV. After graduating with a Literature degree then journalism qualifications with News Associates a few years further back than she’d like to admit, Tasha began her freelance career. She’s worked as a writer, editor and commissioning editor for a number of publications including Digital Spy. She is also a theatre critic. LinkedIn
