These movies deserved all the commercial success.
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00:00So, there's no denying that the theatrical movie landscape is in a major state of flux
00:04right now.
00:05The pandemic dealt a major blow to the box office revenues around the globe, and though
00:09the ongoing recovery is encouraging, it seems unlikely that we're ever going to fully
00:13return to the normality of 2019.
00:17These 10 films, each of them largely acclaimed by critics, all failed to make a dent with
00:21the mainstream, for a multitude of reasons.
00:23And while they may fare better on streaming, it is a damn shame that so few people shelled
00:28out to watch them on the big screen, because you know what?
00:31They absolutely deserve to do so, so much better.
00:34So let's take a look at them as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are 10
00:38awesome recent movies that didn't deserve to bomb.
00:4110.
00:42The Last Jewel
00:43Ridley Scott's historical action drama, The Last Jewel, received predominantly positive
00:48reviews from critics, with much praise for its cast, and the nuanced means through which
00:52it examined its delicate subject matter.
00:54Despite a first-rate director and an A-list cast, the film ended up tanking catastrophically
00:59at the box office, grossing less than half of initial projections on its opening weekend,
01:04and going on to nab a total of $30.6 million, a mere fraction of its hefty $100 million
01:10price tag.
01:11The Last Jewel was a great movie, caught in a perfect storm of bad circumstances.
01:16Old cinemographers were still staying away from cinemas, and at a time where cinema audiences
01:20were largely craving escapist spectacle, a two-and-a-half-hour drama about sexual assault
01:25wasn't going to get many out of the house.
01:28But The Last Jewel has reportedly been a solid performer on streaming, though, seemingly
01:32ensuring it's enjoying something of a second life at home.
01:359.
01:36Ambulance
01:37Michael Bay might have a reputation as one of the most prolific and commercially successful
01:41filmmakers working today, but he actually hasn't had a box office hit since 2014.
01:46Bay's new project, Ambulance, seemed like a sure thing on paper.
01:50A high-concept genre film filled with explosions, high-octane chase sequences, and awesome drone
01:56shots, and was going to be led by the beloved Jake Gyllenhaal.
01:59Hell, even with Bay's reputation for commanding massive budgets, Ambulance was made for an
02:03impressive $40 million, and in a marketplace dominated by CGI-heavy tentpoles, the presence
02:09of a more robust, mid-budget action flick seemed pretty refreshing.
02:13The irony is that despite being Bay's best-reviewed film in over 25 years, Ambulance sank like
02:19a stone at the box office.
02:21In a theatrical landscape dominated by $200 million blockbusters, audiences may have taken
02:26one look at this film and decided to wait it out for streaming.
02:29Don't be shocked if it does become a big performer on video-on-demand, though.
02:338.
02:34The Suicide Squad
02:35James Gunn's The Suicide Squad was basically a big bombastic apology for 2016's David
02:40Ayer-directed Suicide Squad, which, despite negative reviews, grossed a mammoth $746.8
02:46million worldwide.
02:47Sadly, the vitriolic response to that film seemed to help poison this soft reboot of
02:52sorts, despite the fact it received rave reviews from critics and fans alike.
02:56With 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
03:06date on HBO Max in the US, so Warner Bros. clearly sacrificed a portion of its box office
03:11to bolster their streaming service.
03:13Yet even accepting this simultaneous release, The Suicide Squad still performed horribly,
03:17making just $167.4 million globally.
03:21Compare that to Godzilla vs. Kong, which also released day and date on HBO Max, and still
03:26made $468.2 million worldwide.
03:30One oft-cited reason is, again, that the 2016 Suicide Squad simply soured people on the
03:36property.
03:37And given that 2020's Birds of Prey also tanked, the interest just wasn't there.
03:41The film was a strong performer on streaming, though, and thankfully Gunn had already shot
03:45the John Cena-starring Peacemaker spinoff series before The Suicide Squad even hit cinemas.
03:50With Peacemaker proving a strong ratings hit on HBO Max, it seems highly likely that the
03:54squad's future will remain on the small screen.
03:577.
03:58Licorice Pizza
03:59Paul Thomas Anderson's Licorice Pizza is, true to form for the director, an impeccably
04:03crafted piece of work.
04:05A deliriously entertaining, coming-of-age dramedy which received three Oscar nominations
04:09for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.
04:13But, despite rave reviews, the film didn't get anywhere close to turning a profit theatrically,
04:18ultimately failing to recoup even its modest $40 million budget.
04:22This speaks once again to adults and arthouse films largely struggling to find larger audiences
04:27at the box office.
04:28Yet, this admittedly isn't something new for Anderson, who has in fact only had two
04:32of his nine movies to date turn a profit in cinemas, Boogie Nights and There Will Be
04:36Blood.
04:37In the case of Licorice Pizza, the budget was undoubtedly bloated out by its period
04:41setting, which always adds millions onto any film's price tag, ensuring its chances of
04:45immediate profitability in the pandemic landscape were always going to be extremely slim.
04:50Despite Anderson's poor commercial track record, though, studios evidently continue
04:54to work with him because the prestige and potential for Oscar nominations is definitely
04:58there.
04:596.
05:00Nightmare Alley
05:02For Daniel Tauro's new period psychological thriller, Nightmare Alley was one of 2021's
05:06most unforgettable genre films, a sumptuously shot and brilliantly acted effort that received
05:11four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.
05:14Nightmare Alley's Oscar recognition is all the more surprising given the film's atrocious
05:18box office performance, barely clawing back half its $60 million budget.
05:23The reasons for its failure are myriad, though.
05:26Older viewers' reluctance to return to cinemas, a vague marketing campaign which didn't sell
05:30the movie well, and surely worst of all, deciding to release it on the same day as
05:34Spider-Man No Way Home.
05:36Counter-programming can work sometimes, but not against a film as enormously hyped as
05:40No Way Home that basically everybody and their grandma wanted to see.
05:445.
05:45The Green Knight
05:46Unlike most films on this list, David Lowery's surreal fantasy epic The Green Knight didn't
05:51have a hefty budget to recoup at the box office, having been made for an impressively svelte
05:55$15 million.
05:57Yet despite receiving rave reviews for its writing, direction, performances, and jaw-dropping
06:01production quality, the film sadly failed to break out as a larger hit.
06:05A24 boldly decided to give The Green Knight a wide theatrical release, dropping it in
06:102,790 North American cinemas last summer, yet it only barely made back its budget and
06:16ultimately failed to turn a profit on the big screen.
06:19Given the director's artsy approach to well-trod subject matter that would surely alienate
06:23more casual audiences, it's little surprise that the film netted a dismal C-plus cinema
06:28score and quickly fell off the cliff at the box office.
06:31It also didn't help that The Green Knight ended up skipping a major theatrical release
06:34in some prominent markets, such as the UK, where it went direct to Amazon Prime the same
06:38day it hit cinemas.
06:404.
06:41West Side Story
06:42Bets don't come much surer than Steven Spielberg, who over the last 20 years has produced just
06:47two box office underperformers, Munich and The BFG, and almost a dozen smash hits.
06:53A Spielberg-directed remake of West Side Story, one of the most iconic musicals ever, must
06:58have seemed like a financial slam dunk to 20th Century Studios when the project began
07:02filming back in the summer of 2019.
07:05But with the pandemic pumping the brakes on adult-skewing movies and younger audiences
07:09having little to no nostalgia for the original 1961 film, West Side Story failed to turn
07:14a profit.
07:15With a massive $100 million budget and extensive marketing campaign, it likely needed to gross
07:20around $250 million in order to be a success, but ultimately didn't even crack one-third
07:25of that figure.
07:26Even with rave reviews and a mighty A Cinema score, leading to seven Oscar nominations
07:31including Best Picture, this was a film that categorically failed to entice general audiences.
07:36Though West Side Story has been another strong performer on streaming, it's a shame that
07:39arguably Spielberg's best movie in 20 or so years was largely ignored on the big screen.
07:453.
07:46The Outfit
07:47Quietly dropped in cinemas earlier this year with minimal marketing, The Outfit is one
07:51of 2022's most entertaining movies to date, a low-key crime drama starring Mark Rylance
07:56as a tailor who finds himself caught in a battle of wits with a group of gangsters.
08:00The film was largely praised by critics for its smart screenplay, fun plot twists and
08:04great performances, though this sadly failed to translate into box office gravy.
08:09Even with the film clearly being made on a relatively low budget, taking place primarily
08:12in just one location with just a few actors, the low worldwide total of just $3.6 million
08:18wasn't enough for it to turn a profit.
08:20Between the film targeting older audiences, Focus Features' rather lackluster marketing
08:24push and many viewers now just preferring to wait for streaming for lower budget films
08:28that they perceive as less cinematic, it unfortunately never really stood a chance.
08:322.
08:33The Northman
08:34Robert Eggers' historical epic The Northman may have only recently hit cinemas, but its
08:38opening weekend box office in the US confirms that it's going to be a commercial failure.
08:42No matter how warmly received the film was by critics, and that it scored a surprisingly
08:46not-bad B Cinema score despite its surreal nature, it was always going to face an uphill
08:51struggle theatrically.
08:53With a stonking $70 million budget, or if some sources can be believed $90 million,
08:58The Northman would need to cross the $150 million mark to get anywhere close to profitability,
09:03which even with pop culture's current obsession with Vikings had zero chance of doing.
09:08As brilliant as the film is, Universal was mightily optimistic here, or some might say
09:12delusional to think that a big-budget Eggers-directed film would catch on with the mainstream.
09:17Given that his previous film, The Lighthouse, failed to turn a profit on a mere $11 million
09:21budget, it was undeniably wishful thinking that The Northman would be a breakout hit,
09:26even with its more accessible subject matter.
09:281.
09:29The Nighthouse
09:30Horror is one of those genres that's continued to thrive throughout the pandemic, largely
09:34because their budgets tend to be relatively low and they typically skew towards younger
09:38audiences.
09:39Yet, more artsy horror has still faced an uphill struggle, as evidenced by the brilliant
09:43Rebecca Hall-starring The Nighthouse, which has dumped in 2,240 North American cinemas
09:49with minimal marketing last audiences.
09:51Despite rave reviews for Hall's superb, award-worthy performance and Dave Bruckner's tense, restrained
09:56direction, it failed to become a wider, word-of-mouth hit as searchlight pictures clearly hoped,
10:01finishing at a paltry $15.5 million worldwide.
10:05Even though the film's undisclosed budget wasn't massive, it clearly wasn't super
10:08low either, and so there's no chance of it turning a profit theatrically.
10:12It also didn't help that the trailers largely sold the film as a more conventional horror
10:16flick, when it was in fact a quiet, restrained, weird type of genre offering, as surely led
10:21to it receiving a dire C-minor cinema score from audiences who felt deceived.
10:26This likely killed its word-of-mouth, and ensured that a lot of potential customers
10:29just waited to watch it on streaming instead.
10:32And there we go my friends, those were 10 awesome, recent movies that didn't deserve
10:35to bomb.
10:36I hope that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down in
10:39the comments section below.
10:40As always, I've been Jules, you can go follow me over on Twitter at RetroJ with a zero,
10:44or you can swing by Liv and Let's Dice, where I do all of my streaming outside of work,
10:48and it'd be great to see you over there my friends.
10:50But before I go, I hope you're treating yourself with love and respect my friend, because you
10:53deserve all of the best things in life, like love, happiness, and success, and don't let
10:57anyone or anything else tell you otherwise, alright?
11:00You're not gonna bomb my friend, you're gonna go out there to big box office success, you
11:04massive star.
11:05As always, I've been Jules, you have been awesome, never forget that, and I'll speak
11:09to you soon.
11:10Bye.