SUNDAY AM: While the theatrical marketplace is starving for big movies post-strike, Apple Original Films‘ $200M pick-up of Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle isn’t cutting it with a $18M domestic/$35M global start, C+ CinemaScore, and 3 stars on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak.
At the end of the day, this multi-supporting actor and actress ensemble isn’t provoking people to drive in their cars to cinemas.
Yeah, yeah, that’s about where tracking saw it. But we need to finally come clear and say it. Ready? Despite Apple being a $2.87 trillion company, and able to shell out for these $200M (or, in some cases, $150M-budgeted) movies like Napoleon and Killers of the Flower Moon — make no mistake, dollar for dollar on the motion picture P&L sheet, these are losses, and in some cases, they don’t have the ancillaries that other movies, do, ala foreign TV. There’s not even a theme park or a cruise ship to further exploit these movies.
In the cases of Napoleon and Killers of the Flower Moon, there’s a small transactional home entertainment window. Furthermore, if Apple isn’t going to get hurt on the 35% Rotten Tomatoes, critically derided Argylle, then Universal will with its distribution deal. Read on.
“How does Apple get away with not being dinged?” is what I’m often asked by several industry sources when it comes to the tech company playing in the fields of box office.
On one hand, there’s something to be thankful for on behalf of exhibition that the streamer is embracing wide theatrical. Exhibitors need movies like air, and in the case of Argylle stateside, it’s $9 million in the bank (when you factor circuits’ rental). Then again, the overall marketplace is at an estimated $63.4M this weekend for all titles, -22% from a year ago.
We certainly don’t want Apple to abandon theatrical. However, how long can this reign of $150M-$200M under-grossing movies continue for the streamer? That’s the question. Will Apple ultimately belt-tighten after this string of uber expensive movies? Who makes an R-rated $200M movie? Because at the end of the day, every corporation wants to profit.
And there’s some really lavish spending going on: for the upcoming Greg Berlanti- directed space race romcom movie, the untitled Project Artemis, starring Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson. I understand Cape Canaveral was rebuilt for the $100M Apple pick-up. That’s quite a luxe spend for what I’m told is a “cute romcom” and a feat up there with installing faux cornfields in Australia on a Superman movie.
“The difference between a motion picture studio and Apple is that we develop, and develop to make features perfect,” says one rival development executive about Apple, “We don’t just willy-nilly hand over creative reign and allow chaos to reign.”
The defense has been that these movies, i.e. Argylle, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Napoleon are brand plays for the service, trinkets to drive global subs to Apple TV+. One film finance source told me that despite these movies being textbook bombs, to Apple, they’re advertising costs. Witness the ten Oscar nominations and 200 accolades (per Apple boss Tim Cook) for Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, and the anecdotal claim that the movie is “the most popular movie across streaming platforms” despite the fact that it hasn’t appeared in the Nielsen streaming rankings yet.
In the case of Napoleon, with an average production cost of $165M and a global gross of $219.3M, film finance sources tell me that the Ridley Scott-directed, 3x Oscar- nominated movie likely lost around $16M in its theatrical run off the global marketing spend alone, but made up for it in its limited transactional run. That’s just theatrical. However, the massive $165M loss hangs on Apple. It’s a similar scenario on Killers of the Flower Moon — A $20M global loss on the theatrical, made up for in minimal home entertainment, with the entire noose of the $200M cost hanging around Apple’s neck.
1.) Argylle (App/Uni) 3,605 theaters, Fri $6.5M Sat $6.9M Sun $4.5M 3-day $18M/ Wk 1
2.) The Chosen (Fath) 2,248 theaters Fri $1.75M, Sat. $2.4M Sun $1.8M 3-day $6M/Total $7.4M/Wk 1
3.) The Beekeeper (AMZ MGM) 3,277 (-60) theaters, Fri $1.3M (-28%) Sat $2.4M Sun $1.4M 3-day $5.2M (-21%), Total $49.4M/Wk 4
4.) Wonka (WB) 2,901 (-113) theaters, Fri $1M (-24%) Sat $2.2M Sun $1.47M 3-day $4.76M (-16%), Total $201.1M/Wk 8
5.) Migration (Ill/Uni) 2,830 (-140) Fri $840K (-19%) Sat $2M Sun $1.2M 3-day $4.1M (-16%), Total $106.2M/ Wk 7
6.) Mean Girls (Par) 3,107 (-437) theaters, Fri $1M (-47%) Sat $1.8M Sun $1.1M 3-day $4M (-42%), Total $66.3M/Wk 4
7.) Anyone But You (Sony) 2,619 (-266) (-43) Fri $1M (-29%) Sat $1.5M Sun $915K 3-day $3.5M (-24%),Total $76.2M/Wk 7
https://deadline.com/2024/02/box-office ... 235812281/