Cheating publicity doesn’t give Pattinson’s ‘Cosmopolis’ an edge

Robert Pattinson may still be better at selling tabloids than movie tickets.

The “Twilight” star’s latest film, “Cosmopolis,” opened in limited release this weekend and took in $72,327, according to an estimate from distributor Entertainment One Films. Playing in three theaters, that amounted to a per-location average of $24,109 -- a decent figure, but one far behind some of the year’s more successful releases. By comparison, Wes Anderson’s breakout success “Moonrise Kingdom” took in an average of $130,749 in the four theaters it launched in back in May.

“Cosmopolis,” directed by David Cronenberg, debuted at the Cannes Film Festival this spring to mixed response, and has since divided critics -- the film notched a 64% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie, adapted from Don DeLillo’s novel of the same name, stars Pattinson as a young billionaire who begins to lose his mind when his business loses an immense amount of money over the course of a day.

The $19-million production arguably received more publicity than other films of its size due to the recent headlines involving Pattinson. The 26-year-old actor’s face has been plastered all over tabloid covers since July, when photos surfaced of his “Twilight” co-star and girlfriend Kristen Stewart cheating on him with a 41-year-old director. Last week, Pattinson emerged for the first time since the scandal because he had promotional duties for “Cosmopolis,” including an interview with The Times.

With the fifth and final “Twilight” film slated to hit theaters in November, Pattinson has yet to prove he is a major box office draw outside of the vampire series. His biggest non-”Twilight” success was last year’s period romance “Water for Elephants,” which grossed a respectable $117 million worldwide but had the advent of a popular co-star in Reese Witherspoon. And his Sept. 11 drama “Remember Me” didn’t prove to be especially memorable with U.S. audiences, taking in $19 million in 2010.

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Follow Amy Kaufman on Twitter @AmyKinLA