'Big George Foreman' Gets KO'd at Weekend Box Office

Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World debuted in theaters this weekend, but the sports film was unable to go toe-to-toe with more popular contenders.

The George Foreman biopic exited the ring with an estimated $3.0 million haul and finished in 11th place at the box office, according to Comscore.

The film played in 3,054 locations across North America, and only managed a per screen average of $982.

Directed by George Tillman Jr. (The Hate U Give, Men of Honor), the film recounts the true story of boxing champion-turned preacher and entrepreneur, George Foreman. After growing up in poverty, Foreman channeled his anger into becoming an Olympic gold medalist and World Heavyweight Champion.

Broadway star Khris Davis plays Foreman. He’s joined in the cast by Forest Whitaker, Jasmine Mathews, Sullivan Jones, John Magaro, Sam Trammell, and The Wire alums Lawrence Gilliard Jr. and Sonja Sohn.

The drama from Sony Pictures’ faith-based studio Affirm Films was embraced by audiences who gave it an A- CinemaScore, but movie critics weren’t so kind.

The biopic currently has a disappointing 43 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 35 reviews.

“It’s a decent film, but it’s kind of by the books. It’s not doing anything cinematically to bring in an audience,” Wilson Morales, founder and editor of BlackFilmAndTV.com, said by phone Sunday.

Morales also questioned the film’s promotional campaign.

“The marketing of it was not as much as you would expect from an icon such as George Foreman,” Morales added. “It didn’t seem like there was a lot of buzz to it.”

The biopic has a reported production budget of $32 million. Unless moviegoers suddenly run out and see the film, it will lose money.

While Big George Foreman came up short in ticket sales, The Super Mario Bros. Movie continued to soar.

The Nintendo video game-based pic topped the box office again, taking in another $40 million. That pushed its four-week total to $490 million domestically. Worldwide, the film has made a staggering total of $1.02 billion dollars as of Sunday.

Elsewhere at the box office, Evil Dead Rise took second place after ringing up another $12.2 million in its second weekend, Comscore reported.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, based on the 1970 Judy Blume book, opened in third place with $6.8 million.

John Wick: Chapter 4 was fourth with $5 million in its sixth weekend. A re-release of the 1983 film Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi rounded out the top five with $4.69 million.