Stephen King’s Firestarter Burns Out With Dismal Opening Weekend Box Office

While Stephen King movies have been bringing in some big business at the box office in recent years, the new reboot of Firestarter has failed to ignite on its release this weekend. The film, which stars Zac Efron and has previously been said to right the many wrongs of the original 1984 adaptation, actually ended up delivering a worse opening weekend than its predecessor did almost four decades ago. It is worth pointing out, though, that the film also premiered this weekend on Peacock as a dual release, which could have impacted its box office performance.

The original Firestarter, which featured Drew Barrymore as its young lead, was not seen as a great movie and the latest adaptation has fared even worse in its critic reviews, landing just a 12% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and not gaining much better from audiences. This has clearly translated badly to results at the box office and saw the movie only take $5.9 million worldwide, meaning the movie has a little way to go to break even on its $12 million budget.

There had been talk of Firestarter being the first movie in a trilogy that would expand the story into a franchise, but how likely that is following this weekend’s lackluster performance and critical mauling is something that we can only wait to find out. As one of a number of Stephen King movies in development with Universal and Blumhouse, it may be more beneficial to concentrate on those other movies than delving further into the world of Firestarter.

Related: Firestarter Review: A Lifeless Remake Quickly Flames Out

Stephen King Is One Of The Few Who Preferred The Remake of Firestarter

Although positive reviews for Firestarter have been few and far between – pretty much the same as the original movie – one person who did have some good things to say about the film is the author of the novel, Stephen King. Prior to the release of the film, King praised Zac Efron’s performance as Andy McGee, the father of the movie’s gifted central character of Charlie, played in the remake by Ryan Kiera Armstrong. King said:

“If you compare David Keith as Andy McGee [in the 1984 film] and Zac Efron [in the new Firestarter], I think Efron wins the battle because he seems a lot more intelligent, and he does a lot less lying to the kid, too. In the original Firestarter movie there’s a lot of, ‘Oh, Charlie, everything’s going to be all right.’ There’s nothing that raises my hackle so much as lying to a child. This character, this iteration of Andy McGee, doesn’t do that. I think Zac Efron did a wonderful job. It’s a very grown up part. And he pulled it off.”

Despite these encouraging words from King, it seems that he has been in the minority when it comes to finding something positive about the latest adaptation of his work. The general consensus has agreed that the movie is slow and just not very exciting, and unfortunately, at the moment, that generally isn’t enough to draw people into theaters, although it could mean that more will check it out on Peacock instead.

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