The King’s Man stumbles in U.S. debut

The King’s Man, a prequel and origin story for two previous Kingsman movies, fell on its face at the U.S. box office.

The R-rated movie generated an estimated U.S. box office of $6.3 million for the Dec. 24-26 weekend and $10 million since it was released on Dec. 22, Exhibitor Relations Co. said on social media.

The King’s Man takes place during World War I and shows how the independent Kingsman organization came to be. Two previous Kingsman entries were set in the present day.

The movie stars Ralph Fiennes and was directed by Matthew Vaughn, who also helmed Kingsman: The Secret Service and Kingsman: The Golden Circle. It was originally developed at 20th Century Fox. Walt Disney Co. inherited the project when it acquired Fox (now called 20th Century Studios).

The King’s Man, like other movies, was delayed because of COVID-19. By the time it came out last week, The King’s Man was swamped in a movie landscape dominated by Spider-Man No Way Home.

The Spider-Man movie, released on Dec. 17, became the No. 1 U.S. box office film almost immediately. It soon became the first post-pandemic, non-Chinese movie to exceed $1 billion at the global box office.