suffer the misfire that was “M3GAN 2.0,” which isn’t going to make a third of what the original “M3GAN” did. But while it’s not nearly as bad in the early going for Sony Pictures, the studio’s “I Know What You Did Last Summer” legacy sequel opened in theaters over the weekend and, sad to say, it fell pretty far short of expectations as well.
“I Know What You Did Last Summer” opened to an estimated $13 million domestically over the weekend, coupled with $11.6 million overseas. That gives it a $24.6 million global start against a reported $18 million budget. That’s by no means a disaster but considering that pre-release estimates had “Last Summer” taking in between $16 and $25 million in North America, that’s a disappointment. The re-introduction of the once-popular ’90s slasher film series was directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (“Do Revenge”).
While Sony probably won’t lose a lot of money on this movie due to its relatively thrifty budget, any hopes that this would revive the franchise on a longer term basis have gone out the window. Audiences had previously demonstrated a willingness to show up for long-awaited revamps of once-popular horror properties this year, with “28 Years Later” ($145 million worldwide) and “Final Destination Bloodlines” ($285 million worldwide) both doing big business. Sorry to say, though, this one couldn’t catch a similar wave.
There’s no reason to believe word of mouth will help here, either, as the fourth movie in the “Last Summer” franchise holds a poor 38% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes to go with a lousy C+ CinemaScore. It’s also perhaps worth pointing out that Amazon Prime Video’s “I Know What You Did Last Summer” TV show was canceled after just one season in 2022. The interest just doesn’t seem to be there in any meaningful way to keep this enterprise alive.
