I think what we're seeing there is just the reality that family movies, unless it's a phenomenon like the Super Mario Bros. movie, kind of have an uphill battle these days. Between the cost of going to the movies, finding a sitter, etc...a trip to the movies for a family of 4 costs a lot and has to be a carefully considered decision. Especially with so much content readily available at home. So I'm not surprised to see a movie like this show some legs on the weekends as families trickle out to see it. Especially when this has a weirdly weak marketing push.
It's the lack of robust international support for the franchise that I think is hurting it most at the box office. This would've been right behind Wonka and Puss in Boots last year as 6th highest grossing family film domestically.
We'll see but I really wouldn't be surprised to see a sequel greenlit. Again, they can more quickly recoup money by licensing it from streaming since Sony doesn't have a streaming service. A movie like this is also filled with product placements/cross promotions which probably pads things a bit too. I just think this is more of a "let's see what lessons we can learn moving forward" situation vs. "shut the whole thing down and forget it ever happened".
