“Downton Abbey: A New Era” opened in second place domestically this weekend and with a much weaker debut than its 2019 predecessor, as a key demographic for the film, older women, proves to be one of the most difficult to persuade back into theaters.
The film, from Comcast Corp.’s Focus Features division, generated $16 million in domestic ticket sales, Comscore Inc. estimated on Sunday. That was below the $20 million forecast from Boxoffice Pro and in line with low- to mid-teen millions the studio had projected.
This movie, which picks up the story of the TV series and 2019 feature film, was the best test so far of whether older women would come back to cinemas. Almost 75% of the audience for the first “Downton Abbey” movie, which opened to $31 million, was female, while 60% was over 35 years old, Boxoffice Pro said. The recovery for theaters has mostly been led by younger men and women seeing superhero films.
