Not exactly the opening weekend that dreams are made of. Director John Krasinski ‘s “IF,” a fantasy-comedy that promises your imaginary friends from childhood are real, fell slightly short of box office expectations with $35 million. Heading into the weekend, “IF” was expected to bring in at least $40 million in its first weekend of release.
Ticket sales were enough for first place, but it’s a wobbly start for a PG family film that cost $110 million to make and many millions more to market. The good news for Paramount Pictures, which distributed “IF,” is that audiences dug the film, giving it an “A” CinemaScore. Ideally, it’ll have staying power like recent original kid-friendly movies, including “Migration” and “Elemental,” which managed to keep selling tickets months after their debuts.
But while those films had relatively clear runways, “IF” will compete next weekend with another family film, Sony’s animated “The Garfield Movie.” Krasinski wrote, directed, produced and stars in “IF,” which follows Brooklyn-dwelling neighbors Cal and Bea (Ryan Reynolds and Cailey Fleming) with the ability to see other people’s imaginary friends (IF, for short). Steve Carell, Matt Damon, Maya Rudolph, Emily Blunt, Bradley Cooper, Jon Stewart and George Clooney round out the star-studded voice cast of IFs.
Reviews have been mixed (it has a 50% on Rotten Tomatoes), with Variety’s Tomris Laffly calling it “a sweetly old-fashioned yet messily con.