THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE

Disney footed the bill for this $150 million dud and took a large unspecified write down on The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.  The Disney/Bruckheimer team had a rough 2010 with a big loss from Prince of Persia just a month and a half earlier.  Hoping to spark another success from director Jon Turteltaub and star Nic Cage which pulled in huge worldwide numbers with their National Treasure films, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice was tracking even worse than Prince Of Persia weeks before release.  The pic opened to a poor $17,619,622 — coming in a distant #3 behind new opener Inception and Despicable Me in its second frame.  The Sorcerer’s Apprentice dropped 45.2% the following weekend to $9,651,495 and closed with only $63,150,991.  Overseas, the film fared a bit better better with $152.1 million, but those numbers were not strong enough to pull the weak domestic numbers into the black.  After theaters take their percentage of the worldwide $215.2 million gross, Disney would see back about $118.3 million, which would likely cover the pricey P&A costs but leave most of the budget in the red.  The Sorcerer’s Apprentice continued a decline in box office for producer Jerry Bruckheimer after G-Force in 2009, Prince Of Persia and in 2013 The Lone Ranger.