‘The Darkest Minds’ Stays in the Shadows at Box Office; ‘The First Purge’ Becomes the Series Most Profitable Entry

The adaptation of Alexandra Bracken’s popular YA science fiction book series The Darkest Minds had a hard time keeping the lights on at this weekend’s box office, as the potential franchise starter landed with a thud, only managing an estimated $5.8 million and an eighth place debut.
The trailers hyped the connections to Stranger Things‘ Dan Cohen and Shawn Levy (who served as producers for the film), but that couldn’t entice fans into the theater this weekend. With an reported budget of $34 million dollars before promotional costs, the film’s worldwide total should allow the film to break even or earn a small profit, but it looks like Hollywood still hasn’t learned that YA novel series are not the place to “mine gold” anymore (and the 18% score at Rotten Tomatoes certainly didn’t help).