While tentpoles resuscitated moviegoing this past summer with pics like
Top Gun: Maverick, it’s true that more adult-skewing fare is having a much harder time now. Nowhere was this more true than with
David O. Russell’s
Amsterdam, which rivals believed had a shot at opening to $12 million-$15 million this past weekend based on the absurdist period comedy’s glossy ensemble of Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Rami Malek, Robert De Niro, Anya Taylor-Joy, Taylor Swift, Michael Shannon (the list doesn’t stop).
But that did not happen: With a $6.5M opening at 3,005 theaters, boosted by Imax and PLF ticket sales that accounted for more than a third of that number, altogether it came out to a paltry $10M worldwide start. Russell was trying to replicate the success of his starry, 10-time Oscar-nominated
American Hustle, which minted a $19.1M domestic wide opening over Christmas 2013, a $150M+ stateside gross and $251.1M worldwide off a $40M production cost.
Amsterdam, fully financed by
New Regency per its deal with
Disney/20th Century Studios, was twice as much at a reported $80M, that being the pic’s most piercing nail in its coffin. What should have been an awards-season play with its originality quickly was sandbagged by critics at 34% on Rotten Tomatoes. So much, critics, for celebrating that which is original on the big screen.
RELATED: ‘Amsterdam’ Review: Christian Bale & All-Star Cast Light Up David O. Russell’s Timely Blend Of Fact And Fiction
Yes, even by pre-pandemic standards, this 1930s-set comedy was expensive, so how did this come to be? Based on a projected global gross of $35M, an estimated $70M global P&A spend — which I’m told is the bare minimum for a big pic like this — backstopped by Regency,
Amsterdam after all home ancillaries will lose around $100M ($97M to be exact).
But, again, that high production cost — why?
I’m told
Amsterdam‘s lofty price boiled down to its change in location, from Boston to a Los Angeles shoot, and putting the brakes on the production when the pandemic hit in March 2020. That’s when
Amsterdam was expected to shoot, and the start date was pushed to January 2021. None of the cast wanted to travel to Boston due to Covid, so L.A. was more prime. The period nature of the movie and the changeup from Boston to L.A. pushed the production cost from a planned $50M to $80M.
That’s with a $2.5M California tax credit.
This type of situation, in which production costs would skyrocket by tens of millions, wasn’t abnormal during this point of the pandemic. Once
Amsterdam was up and running, there were no Covid shutdowns and no one tested positive despite cases surging by 19,000 daily, and it was smooth sailing during a 49-day shoot.
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deadline.com
Came to say the same exact thing and breh did it on first reply
u were just gonna try to get that take off regardless huh Lol... u don't even know the movie was not that..
