‘Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ opens to weak $3.7 million Wednesday

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‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ failed to conjure up much box-office magic Wednesday.

Walt Disney Studios’ new family adventure film sold $3.7 million worth of tickets in the U.S. and Canada, a very soft opening. [Update, 12:12 p.m.: Disney slightly increased its box office number as new information came in to $3.9 million.]

It was in a virtual tie for No. 2 with ‘The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,’ far behind ‘Despicable Me,’ which grossed $7.1 million, according to Hollywood.com.

The opening of ‘Sorcerer’s’ was slightly lower than that of ‘Knight & Day,’ another movie that was tracking poorly in pre-release surveys for which the studio moved up the release from Friday to Wednesday. [Update, 12:37 p.m.: With Disney’s updated box office figures, ‘Sorcerer’s’ opened slightly higher than ‘Knight & Day.’]

That movie went on to gross a total of $27.4 million by the Sunday after it opened last month. ‘Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ may do slightly better because, as a family movie, it should draw more business in Saturday and Sunday matinees.

Still, a five-day opening of about $30 million, as people who closely follow box office now say looks likely, would be disappointing given that ‘Sorcerer’s’ cost about $150 million to produce.

-- Ben Fritz

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