King Arthur falls on its sword at the BO, Alien: Covenant opens strong

The first major box office flop of the summer movie season has arrived.

Studio estimates on Sunday say director Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword opened to a bleak $14.7 million from more than 3,700 locations against a costly $175 million production budget.

The gritty reimaging of the Excalibur myth starring Charlie Hunnam as Arthur debuted in third place behind box office leader Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Snatched at No. 2.

Warner Bros. was unsurprisingly disappointed at the poor showing for King Arthur but hopeful for the rest of its summer slate, including Wonder Woman and Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk.

Snatched surprised analysts by beating King Arthur on the charts. The raunchy, R-rated Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn comedy from 20th Century Fox opened with $17.5 million.

Marvel and Disney’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 collected $63 million and has earned $246.2 million domestically in just two weeks.

It was down just 57% from last weekend and is proving to be the only film in theatres capable of drawing mass audiences.

Rounding out the top five were holdovers The Fate of the Furious, with $5.3 million, and The Boss Baby with $4.6 million.

“The newcomers definitely had a tough time ... For most general audiences, Guardians remains the go-to movie,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore. “It has incredible staying power.”

Neither King Arthur nor Snatched were well-received by critics, and audiences weren’t all that enchanted either, giving King Arthur a B+ CinemaScore and Snatched a B.

Snatched also lagged behind Schumer’s Trainwreck, which opened to $30.6 million in July 2015.

Dergarabedian, however, noted that the success of Trainwreck was more of an anomaly than a precedent and echoed the studio in categorizing Snatched as a solid start for the film that cost $42 million to make.

Internationally, Alien: Covenant opened to $42 million ahead of its US debut on May 19.