With little in the way of high-profile competition this weekend, “Dear Evan Hansen’s” $7.3 million was enough to land it in second place. Directed by Stephen Chbosky and written by Steven Levenson, “Dear Evan Hansen” is about a high school student with social anxiety disorder. “We are tremendously proud of ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ and everything about it,” said Universal’s head of distribution Jim Orr. But “Dear Evan Hansen” cost significantly less — $28 million vs. $95 million — in addition to the fact that “Cats” launched to worse reviews in a pre-pandemic environment. The Hugh Jackman musical defied all box office logic in 2017 and 2018 when it opened to a deathly $8.8 million but went on to gross over $434.9 million globally.

Source: ABC News September 26, 2021 15:56 UTC