'Transcendence' Is A Real Bad Flop For Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp's box-office fortunes crashed with the release of "Transcendence." Wally Pfister's directorial debut, which stars Depp as a computer genius turned power-mad computer, finished in fourth place at the weekend box office with just $11.5 million in estimated ticket sales. "Transcendence," which debuted in 3,455 theaters, marks Depp's worst ever showing for a feature released in more than 3,000 theaters. Its total was even lower than 2004's "Secret Window," Depp's previous wide-release nadir, which earned $18.2 million in March of that year.

More ignominious stats: As Exhibitor Relations pointed out on Twitter, when adjusted for inflation, the debut of "Transcendence" was lower than what "The Lawnmower Man," a similarly themed feature, earned during its opening weekend in 1992. That film starred Jeff Fahey.

"Transcendence," which The Hollywood Reporter notes cost north of $100 million to produce, is just the latest flop on Depp's resume, following "The Rum Diary," "Dark Shadows" and "The Lone Ranger." In fact, Depp hasn't enjoyed a non-franchise, non-animated hit since 2009's "Public Enemies"; the only film close to a success in this period was 2010's "The Tourist," which was a bust in North America but grossed $210 million overseas.

Despite the setbacks, Depp isn't taking it easy. He's got a surfeit of features coming soon, including "Mordecai," "Black Mass" and "Into the Woods." There's also talk of a fifth "Pirates of the Caribbean" film, but that has not yet received the go-ahead from Disney.