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The Kitchen sets unwanted record for Melissa McCarthy

Photo credit: Warner Bros.
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

From Digital Spy

Melissa McCarthy's The Kitchen has managed to set a new career record for the actress, but it's not necessarily one that she will want to remember.

According to Deadline, the New Line crime drama – which is yet to be released in the UK – made just $5.5 million (£4.6M) in its opening weekend in the US, which is $4M less than McCarthy's The Happytime Murders, which was released last summer to scathingly negative reviews.

The figure makes The Kitchen the lowest-grossing opener of a McCarthy-lead film to date.

Photo credit: Warner Bros.
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

Related: Melissa McCarthy has the perfect burn for Ghostbusters reboot haters

Based on the Vertigo comic book miniseries of the same name, and also starring Night School's Tiffany Haddish and The Handmaid's Tale star Elisabeth Moss, The Kitchen centres on three mob wives who take over the family gangster business to support themselves after the FBI sends their husbands to prison.

The film was written and directed by Andrea Berloff, who was nominated for an Oscar for Original Screenplay for Straight Outta Compton, and also features Star Wars' Domhnall Gleeson, Brian d'Arcy James and James Badge Dale.

The opening weekend numbers also make the Andrea Berloff-directed feature one of the lowest across Haddish's filmography, too.

Despite a more promising-looking box office taking on Saturday, the whole weekend's earnings came in lower than that of Haddish's 2016 action comedy Keanu, which made $9.4M on its release.

Photo credit: BBC
Photo credit: BBC

Interestingly, it's not that uncommon for films that boast typically comedic actors dabbling in drama to tank at the box office – even if the actor in question has had recent success elsewhere.

Deadline also points out that Bill Murray period drama The Razor's Edge (which made $6.5M) suffered a similar fate when it was released just a few months after Ghostbusters in 1984.

Hopefully this just marks a blip in McCarthy and Haddish's careers, though, with McCarthy rumoured to be in talks to star as Ursula in Disney's live-action The Little Mermaid, and Haddish expected to return alongside Jada Pinkett Smith, Regina Hall and Queen Latifah in a sequel to breakout comedy hit Girls Trip.

The Kitchen is out now in the US, with a UK release following on September 20.


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