It was a (Tenth Avenue) freeze-out for 20th Century Studios and Bruce Springsteen at the box office this weekend. The Boss’ biopic, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, underperformed against even its modest expectations, landing in fourth place with just $9 million.
“This movie did not open really much at all,” says Sean McNulty of the film, a quiet drama that has more in common with director Scott Cooper’s Crazy Heart than a typical music biography spectacle like Elvis. “It’s an indie movie masquerading as a studio movie.”
“I’m not saying they shouldn’t make the movie,” Sean adds, “but you’ve got to temper your expectations accordingly.”
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is focused on the period of the artist’s life when he wrote and released the lo-fi album Nebraska while confronting his mental health struggles, and Sean found a lot to reassess about the movie, including its release date.
“You’re in the middle of the World Series, you’re in the middle of October, it’s Halloween time,” Sean says. “Not to be too on the nose about it, but the Bob Dylan movie came out at Christmas, and if your target demographic here is very much 45 and up, let’s just say that this time of year doesn’t scream ‘ideal time to have free time to go out and see this kind of thing.’”
Still, as he did last week, when After the Hunt flamed out for Amazon MGM, Richard Rushfield is looking at the bright side. “We have criticized the Disney company for just shamelessly mining IP and making sort of cookie-cutter remakes and everything,” he says. “And they took a swing with something different here. I appreciate them.”
Elsewhere in this edition: Anime continues to flex with Chainsaw Man topping the box office for Sony/Crunchyroll, and The Black Phone 2 looks like a winner for Blumhouse. Plus: KPop Demon Hunters makes its theatrical return this weekend to (hopefully) save the day.
