These movies deserved all the commercial success.
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00:00 So, there's no denying that the theatrical movie landscape is in a major state of flux
00:04 right now. The pandemic dealt a major blow to the box office revenues around the globe,
00:09 and though the ongoing recovery is encouraging, it seems unlikely that we're ever going
00:13 to fully return to the "normality" of 2019. These 10 films, each of them largely
00:18 acclaimed by critics, all failed to make a dent with the mainstream, for a multitude
00:23 of reasons. And while they may fare better on streaming, it is a damn shame that so few
00:27 people showed out to watch them on the big screen, because you know what? They absolutely
00:32 deserve to do so, so much better. So let's take a look at them as own jewels, this is
00:36 WhatCulture.com, and these are 10 awesome recent movies that didn't deserve to bomb.
00:41 10. The Last Jewel
00:43 Ridley Scott's historical action drama The Last Jewel received predominantly positive
00:48 reviews from critics, with much praise for its cast, and the nuanced means through which
00:52 it examined its delicate subject matter. Despite a first-rate director and an A-list cast,
00:57 the film ended up tanking catastrophically at the box office, grossing less than half
01:01 of initial projections on its opening weekend and going on to nab a total of $30.6 million,
01:07 a mere fraction of its hefty $100 million price tag.
01:11 The Last Jewel was a great movie, caught in a perfect storm of bad circumstances. Old
01:16 cinemographers were still staying away from cinemas, and at a time where cinema audiences
01:20 were largely craving escapist spectacle, a two-and-a-half-hour drama about sexual assault
01:25 wasn't going to get many out of the house. But The Last Jewel has reportedly been a solid
01:30 performer on streaming, though, seemingly ensuring it's enjoying something of a second
01:34 life at home.
01:35 9. Ambulance
01:37 Michael Bay might have a reputation as one of the most prolific and commercially successful
01:41 filmmakers working today, but he actually hasn't had a box office hit since 2014. Bay's
01:46 new project, Ambulance, seemed like a sure thing on paper. A high-concept genre film
01:52 filled with explosions, high-octane chase sequences, and awesome drone shots, and was
01:56 going to be led by the beloved Jake Gyllenhaal. Hell, even with Bay's reputation for commanding
02:01 massive budgets, Ambulance was made for an impressive $40 million, and in a marketplace
02:06 dominated by CGI-heavy tentpoles, the presence of a more robust, mid-budget action flick
02:12 seemed pretty refreshing. The irony is that despite being Bay's best-reviewed film in
02:16 over 25 years, Ambulance sank like a stone at the box office.
02:21 In a theatrical landscape dominated by $200 million blockbusters, audiences may have taken
02:26 one look at this film and decided to wait it out for streaming. Don't be shocked if
02:30 it does become a big performer on video-on-demand, though.
02:33 8. The Suicide Squad
02:35 James Gunn's The Suicide Squad was basically a big bombastic apology for 2016's David
02:40 Ayer-directed Suicide Squad, which, despite negative reviews, grossed a mammoth $746.8
02:46 million worldwide. Sadly, the vitriolic response to that film seemed to help poison this soft
02:51 reboot of sorts, despite the fact it received rave reviews from critics and fans alike.
02:56 With a colossal $185 million budget, The Suicide Squad realistically needed to make around
03:01 $450 million to be profitable. Though it is worth noting that the film released day and
03:06 date on HBO Max in the US, so Warner Bros. clearly sacrificed a portion of its box office
03:11 to bolster their streaming service.
03:13 Yet even accepting this simultaneous release, The Suicide Squad still performed horribly,
03:17 making just $167.4 million globally. Compare that to Godzilla vs. Kong, which also released
03:24 day and date on HBO Max and still made $468.2 million worldwide.
03:30 One oft-cited reason is, again, that the 2016 Suicide Squad simply soured people on the
03:36 property. And given that 2020's Birds of Prey also tanked, the interest just wasn't
03:40 there. The film was a strong performer on streaming, though, and thankfully Gunn had
03:44 already shot the John Cena-starring Peacemaker spin-off series before The Suicide Squad even
03:49 hit cinemas. With Peacemaker proving a strong ratings hit on HBO Max, it seems highly likely
03:54 that the squad's future will remain on the small screen.
03:57 7. Licorice Pizza
03:59 Paul Thomas Anderson's Licorice Pizza is, true to form for the director, an impeccably
04:03 crafted piece of work. A deliriously entertaining coming-of-age dramedy which received three
04:08 Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. But, despite
04:14 rave reviews, the film didn't get anywhere close to turning a profit theatrically, ultimately
04:18 failing to recoup even its modest $40 million budget. This speaks once again to adult and
04:24 art-house films largely struggling to find larger audiences at the box office. Yet, this
04:28 admittedly isn't something new for Anderson, who has in fact only had two of his nine movies
04:33 to date turn a profit in cinemas, Boogie Nights and There Will Be Blood.
04:37 In the case of Licorice Pizza, the budget was undoubtedly bloated out by its period
04:41 setting, which always adds millions onto any film's price tag, ensuring its chances of
04:45 immediate profitability in the pandemic landscape were always going to be extremely slim. Despite
04:50 Anderson's poor commercial track record, though, studios evidently continue to work
04:54 with him because the prestige and potential for Oscar nominations is definitely there.
04:59 6. Nightmare Alley
05:01 Gilmo Del Toro's new period psychological thriller Nightmare Alley was one of 2021's
05:06 most unforgettable genre films. A sumptuously shot and brilliantly acted effort that received
05:11 four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. Nightmare Alley's Oscar recognition is all
05:16 the more surprising given the film's atrocious box office performance, barely clawing back
05:20 half its $60 million budget.
05:23 The reasons for its failure are myriad, though. Older viewers' reluctance to return to cinemas,
05:27 a vague marketing campaign which didn't sell the movie well, and surely worst of all, deciding
05:32 to release it on the same day as Spider-Man No Way Home. Counter-programming can work
05:37 sometimes but not against a film as enormously hyped as No Way Home that basically everybody
05:42 and their grandma wanted to see.
05:44 5. The Green Knight
05:46 Unlike most films on this list, David Lowery's surreal fantasy epic The Green Knight didn't
05:51 have a hefty budget to recoup at the box office, having been made for an impressively svelte
05:55 $15 million. Yet, despite receiving rave reviews for its writing, direction, performances,
06:01 and jaw-dropping production quality, the film sadly failed to break out as a larger hit.
06:05 K24 boldly decided to give The Green Knight a wide theatrical release, dropping it in
06:10 2,790 North American cinemas last summer, yet it only barely made back its budget and
06:16 ultimately failed to turn a profit on the big screen.
06:19 Given the director's artsy approach to well-trod subject matter that would surely alienate
06:23 more casual audiences, it's little surprise that the film netted a dismal C+ cinema score
06:28 and quickly fell off the cliff at the box office. It also didn't help that The Green
06:32 Knight ended up skipping a major theatrical release in some prominent markets, such as
06:36 the UK, where it went direct to Amazon Prime the same day it hit cinemas.
06:40 4. West Side Story
06:42 Bets don't come much surer than Steven Spielberg, who over the last 20 years has produced just
06:47 two box office underperformers, Munich and The BFG, and almost a dozen smash hits. A
06:53 Spielberg-directed remake of West Side Story, one of the most iconic musicals ever, must
06:58 have seemed like a financial slam dunk to 20th Century Studios when the project began
07:02 filming back in the summer of 2019. But with the pandemic pumping the brakes on adult-skewing
07:07 movies and younger audiences having little to no nostalgia for the original 1961 film,
07:12 West Side Story failed to turn a profit.
07:14 With its massive $100 million budget and extensive marketing campaign, it likely needed to gross
07:20 around $250 million in order to be a success, but ultimately didn't even crack one-third
07:25 of that figure. Even with rave reviews and a mighty A Cinema score, leading to seven
07:30 Oscar nominations including Best Picture, this was a film that categorically failed
07:34 to entice general audiences. Though West Side Story has been another strong performer on
07:38 streaming, it's a shame that arguably Spielberg's best movie in 20 or so years was largely ignored
07:44 on the big screen.
07:45 3. The Outfit
07:46 Quietly dropped in cinemas earlier this year with minimal marketing, The Outfit is one
07:51 of 2022's most entertaining movies to date, a low-key crime drama starring Mark Rylance
07:56 as a tailor who finds himself caught in a battle of wits with a group of gangsters.
08:00 The film was largely praised by critics for its smart screenplay, fun plot twists and
08:04 great performances, though this sadly failed to translate into box office gravy. Even with
08:09 the film clearly being made on a relatively low budget, taking place primarily in just
08:13 one location with just a few actors, the low worldwide total of just $3.6 million wasn't
08:18 enough for it to turn a profit. Between the film targeting older audiences, Focus Features'
08:23 rather lackluster marketing push and many viewers now just preferring to wait for streaming
08:27 for lower budget films that they perceive as "less cinematic", it unfortunately never
08:31 really stood a chance.
08:32 2. The Northman
08:34 Robert Eggers' historical epic The Northman may have only recently hit cinemas, but its
08:38 opening weekend box office in the US confirms that it's going to be a commercial failure.
08:42 No matter how warmly received the film was by critics, and that it scored a surprisingly
08:46 not-bad B Cinema score despite its surreal nature, it was always going to face an uphill
08:51 struggle theatrically. With a stonking $70 million budget, or if some sources can be
08:56 believed $90 million, The Northman would need to cross the $150 million mark to get anywhere
09:02 close to profitability, which even with pop culture's current obsession with Vikings,
09:06 had zero chance of doing. As brilliant as the film is, Universal was mightily optimistic
09:11 here, or some might say delusional, to think that a big-budget Eggers-directed film would
09:15 catch on with the mainstream. Given that his previous film, The Lighthouse, failed to turn
09:19 a profit on a mere $11 million budget, it was undeniably wishful thinking that The Northman
09:24 would be a breakout hit, even with its more accessible subject matter.
09:28 1. The Night House
09:30 Horror is one of those genres that's continued to thrive throughout the pandemic, largely
09:34 because their budgets tend to be relatively low, and they typically skew towards younger
09:38 audiences. Yet more artsy horror has still faced an uphill struggle, as evidenced by
09:43 the brilliant Rebecca Hall-starring The Night House, which has dumped in 2,240 North American
09:48 cinemas with minimal marketing last audiences. Despite rave reviews for Hall's superb, award-worthy
09:54 performance and Dave Bruckner's tense, restrained direction, it failed to become a wider, word-of-mouth
09:59 hit as searchlight pictures clearly hoped, finishing at a paltry $15.5 million worldwide.
10:05 Even though the film's undisclosed budget wasn't massive, it clearly wasn't super
10:08 low either, and so there's no chance of it turning a profit theatrically. It also
10:13 didn't help that the trailers largely sold the film as a more conventional horror flick,
10:16 when it was in fact a quiet, restrained, weird type of genre offering, as surely led to it
10:21 receiving a dire C-minor cinema score from audiences who felt deceived. This likely killed
10:27 its word of mouth, and ensured that a lot of potential customers just waited to watch
10:30 it on streaming instead.
10:32 And there we go my friends, those were 10 awesome recent movies that didn't deserve
10:35 to bomb. I hope that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about
10:38 it down in the comments section below. As always I've been Jules, you can go follow
10:42 me over on Twitter @RetroJay with a zero, or you can swing by Liv and Let's Dice where
10:46 I do all of my streaming outside of work, and it'd be great to see you over there my
10:49 friends. But before I go, I hope you're treating yourself with love and respect my
10:53 friend, because you deserve all of the best things in life like love, happiness, and success,
10:57 and don't let anyone or anything else tell you otherwise, alright? You're not gonna
11:00 bomb my friend, you're gonna go out there to big box office success, you massive star.
11:05 As always, I've been Jules, you've been awesome, never forget that, and I'll speak to you soon.