Box Office 2017: Blade Runner off to a dismal start

Weekend Box Office: 'American Made' in Close Race With 'Kingsman,' 'It'; 'Flatliners' Stalls

'American Made' stars Tom Cruise as a real-life pilot who smuggled cocaine for a Colombian cartel before turning CIA-informant.

In a surprise twist, Doug Liman's American Made has found itself in a close race for the No. 1 spot at the domestic box office with holdovers Kingsman: The Golden Circle and It.

American Made, starring Tom Cruise, won on Friday with an estimated $6.1 million from 3,024 theaters for a projected $16.5 million weekend, on par with the forecast for Kingsman and It.

Kingsman: Golden Circle, from 20th Century Fox, had been widely expected to win the frame with $20 million or more.

The weekend's other new nationwide offering, Sony's horror remake Flatliners, appears DOA and may not crack $6 million in its opening. Prerelease tracking had suggested the R-rated pic would clear $10 million.

Cross Creek Pictures financed and produced both American Made and Flatliners.

Weekend Box Office: 'Blade Runner 2049' Careens Off Course With $31.5M Opening

Elsewhere, Idris Elba and Kate Winslet's 'The Mountain Between Us' and animated pic 'My Little Pony' open to muted business; 'It' crosses $600 million globally.

Despite strong reviews and an A- CinemaScore, Denis Villeneuve's big-budget sequel Blade Runner 2049 careened off course in its North American debut over the weekend, even while placing No. 1.

The long-awaited follow-up to Ridley Scott's 1982 cult classic grossed $31.5 million from 4,058 theaters, a dismal start for a movie that cost $150 million to make after tax rebates and incentives. Heading into the weekend, all signs pointed to Blade Runner 2049 taking in $45 million or more. One issue: The sci-fi epic runs 163 minutes. To boot, it skewed heavily male (71 percent) and older, with 86 percent of the audience over the age of 25, including 63 percent over 35.

Blade Runner 2049 is a huge bet for Alcon Entertainment, which owns the film and co-financed it with Sony. Warner Bros. is handling domestic distribution duties per its deal with Alcon — backed by FedEx mogul Fred Smith — while Sony has international.

The event film rolled out in most major markets over the weekend, grossing a strong, but not spectacular, $50.2 million for a global bow of $81.5 million. Unless it overperforms in China, Japan and South Korea, where it has yet to open, Blade Runner 2049 isn't likely to meet its goal of earning at least $400 million worldwide. It opened No. 1 in 45 out of 63 markets, led by the U.K. with $8 million, 15 percent of Mad Max: Fury Road.