Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049 wins over critics, loses at the box office

Quebec filmmaker DenisVilleneuve's latest project,Blade Runner2049, was well-received bycritics, but the movieisn't breaking any box office recordseven in his home province.

Ticket sales maxed out at $3.1 million in Quebec,more than a month after its red carpet release,according to data compiled byCinac, a cinema agency.

• Scenes from the Blade Runner 2049 red carpet in Montreal
• How Montreal's Festival du nouveau cinma secured Blade Runner 2049

The number one film in Quebec so far this year is Beauty and the Beast, which grossed more than $6.7 million at the box office.

The next two most popular films were Qubcois-produced, withDepreenflic2 raking in $6.6 million andBon cop, bad cop 2 bringing in $5.6 million.

Currently Blade Runner 2049 finds itself squarely in 12th position ofhighest-grossing filmsin Quebec this year.

Internationally, the box office's sales are lowerthan expected with Forbes putting the film'sworldwide numbers at around $240 million.

The movie's opening weekend brought in a weak$31.5 million US, a disappointment for a film that took $150 million to make. The production company had targeted closer to a $50 million opening.

• Blade Runner 2049 has weak opening despite strong reviews

Original wasbox-office disappointment

Even though the highly-touted sequel didn't bring in as many sales, Villeneuve has said this is his best work yet.

Reviewers and audiences alike both offered positive feedback for the film, earning it an A- onCinema Scoreand 88 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.

But the audience was overwhelmingly made of men (71 per cent) and over the age of 25 (86 per cent).

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The movie, starring Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford, had troublepulling in a wide range of moviegoers beyond fans of the 1982 original.

The original film, too, was a box-office disappointment. Though a cult following would gradually emerge,Blade Runner in 1982 debuted with $6.2 million or about $16 million in 2017 dollars