Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another opened to $22.4 million in North America, and whether that’s a success or a flop depends on how you look at it.
On the one hand, “It’s a two-hour, 40-minute action-drama with political overtones — this movie was never going to do $50 million,” Sean McNulty says. “PTA is not Quentin Tarantino at the box office. He’s an esteemed filmmaker, but there’s just not the audience size there.” In that light, $22.4 million ain’t bad. But for a Leonardo DiCaprio-starrer that cost $130 million (or more), its opening weekend creates an uphill battle to reach profitability.
The one thing Richard Rushfield knows for sure: “If you are up in arms about, ‘This is going to end up losing $40 million,’ you are the enemy of entertainment, you are the reason Hollywood has been so horrible and you should consider another line of work.” Not to mention that the film likely will have strong legs thanks to its Oscar frontrunner status. Additionally, as Richard explains, unlike the ninth entry in a tired franchise, One Battle has future value for the Warners library as well.
Also on Monday Morning Quarterbacks, Richard and Sean question Trump’s proposed 100 percent tariff on foreign-made films. “You want to hurt a business? Put a tax on movies overseas,” Sean says. “That’s not great for American movie studios, and that’s not great for workers.”
Plus: How Gabby’s Dollhouse hit for the under-6 demo; Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy continues the re-release momentum; and what to expect from the Taylor Swift theatrical takeover this weekend.
