Babylon pulls 3.5$ million over the weekend off a 80$+ million budget

[Primetime]

Honestly I didn't hear about this movie until two weeks ago, and already is nominated for Academy Awards. I remember the Shape of Water getting buzz and made cash, I remember Parasite getting a ton of buzz and it made bank. This year The Whale is getting all the hype, and I am sure people will want to see it.

This shyt came out of left field, and while it had Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, it's a harsh reminder in a MCU-dominated world, that Big Name stars just aren't enough anymore unless your Tom Cruise, and even then Tom is busting his ass to promote his film.

How did it expect to make cash during a time when AVATAR 2 was coming out?

Cruise ain't enough for nothing either tbh, outside of the nostalgic IPs he starred in 20+ years ago (Mission Impossible, Top Gun) that he'll start/continue milking the same way Vin Diesel milks the Fast & Furious.

Hell, Will Smith probably could've gone a similar path with Bad Boys if Martin had been in better health/mental state this whole time... or with MiB if a little more care was taken to make better movies out of the last couple... or simply not making the last couple, and having a more dramatic reveal in the 2020s of Will returning but in the Agent K mentor role...

All in all, the industry is not so much MCU-dominate, as it is IP-dominant, with the MCU simply being the most notable case.

 

[VoxSphere74]

This is an Oscar movie

Was always gonna bomb

Basically. And it had the same problem that Amsterdam did. No one even knew what it was about based on the trailers. Because just partying and excess isn't enough.

At least Wolf of Wall Street was based on a real person with a real past.

 

[ORDER_66]

You also mentioned how you wanted Hollywood to put some focus on cheap talent that are good in these big Oscar bait movies. Well…

I mean you right... but...1 no name actor not gonna do it..

 

[pete clemenza]

well Avatar 2 is already at $850m so that's not a problem. Maybe Babylon is just ass??

It has to make like $2 billion to break even tho right?

 

[BigBlackSea]

Literally no advertising other than the sparse amount of billboards sprinkled around LA

 

[Diunx]

it was never gonna do gangbusters

the 3 hour length might turn people off...and the trailer doesn't really capture the film

Spoiler: about the trailer

half the trailer are actually scenes from the prologue...and that shyt is like 30mins...before we ever get a title saying what the film is

Wait, that shyt is 3 hours? I downloaded it but now I don't see myself watching it anytime soon.

 

[Legal]

It’s one of my favorites this year. Try to give it a watch when it hits streaming if you want, but I didn’t feel like my time was wasted upon the credit roll.

Really not a shocker to see it performing like it is though. I can see a lot of the audience being fatigued after Amsterdam. Both of these films whose trailers flashed star-studded casts, but not much substance. That movie deserved to lose money. This one…not so much. The budget is showcased right away in the production design that I’m positive will earn an Oscar nom. It felt like the actors each had a place in the film and weren’t there just to be there.

Babylon is a movie that I could actually see aging well down the road and reevaluated in a better light.

This makes sense.

When the trailer came out, I said there's a decent chance this flops. The day of the ensemble film, sold on "These people are in the movie," is over. People want to have some idea of what they're going to be paying money for before they bother stepping out and putting money down to watch. That's why established IP are sucking so much air out of the room right now. It's not necessarily that that's all that audiences want, it's just that most of those movies are essentially making the decision as simple as "Do you like Marvel/Top Gun/Fast and Furious?" And then beyond that, they're just good enough for word of mouth from the audience to do the rest of the heavy lifting when the movie's out.

With this, and Amsterdam, they didn't give audiences a whole lot to make their decision off of. Amsterdam leaned into the cast over the plot, which to be fair, was probably all they really had, since what I saw of it (I ejected something like halfway through) wasn't particularly good. Babylon leaned into scenes from what apparently is a small portion of the movie, and Damien Chazelle's name, despite the fact that La La Land is the only real hit to his name. That's just not gonna fly these days.

 

[Danie84]

Barbie isn't gonna hold up with Margot keep bombin the theatres:

 

[ciubaca]

Barbie isn't gonna hold up with Margot keep bombin the theatres:

Shes like the female version of taylor kitch. Tbf babylon and amsterdam were not the kind if movies to make a profit

 

[Whips-n-Chains]

Can’t remember the last time Brad Pitt was in a movie I’d watch more than once.

 

[BillBanneker]

I’ve actually seen a lot of ads for Babylon but the problem is I have no idea what’s it’s about and big name actors aren’t enough to generate interest anymore.

​

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

It has to make like $2 billion to break even tho right?

That was the rumor but it's gonna be close. When it's all over.. it will def be profitable.

 

[Deltron]

I’ve actually seen a lot of ads for Babylon but the problem is I have no idea what’s it’s about and big name actors aren’t enough to generate interest anymore.

​

trailer frames it on some great gatsby shyt...but that's not even a big portion of the film

 

[RennisDeynolds]

Margot Robbie is a FLOPstar. She peaked out the gate in wolf of wall street

No range just keeps playing variations of that character, Harley Quinn included

 

[Premeditated]

damn, Margot Robbie stays starring in BO bombs

atleast Pitt has Bullettrain from this year

Margot is 0/2

not including all her flops from the past decade