Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” is an original, R rated, nearly three hour long film which has grossed $140 million at the box-office worldwide, an impressive number on the surface.
The trouble is, it’s not enough – not for a film with a $130 million budget and a further $70 million in marketing spend.
Variety reports that according to studio executives with knowledge of the economics of similar-sized films, the movie is on track to lose $100 million for Warner Bros. Pictures – even as the studio is mounting a multimillion-dollar Oscar campaign for the critically acclaimed feature.
A Warner Bros. spokesperson reportedly pushed back on those estimates, saying the studio “refutes Variety’s anonymous sources and their uninformed estimates” while pointing out that the company has enjoyed a hugely successful year at the box office with “Sinners,” “A Minecraft Movie” and “The Conjuring: Last Rites” all performing strongly.
“One Battle After Another” has fared better than other movies of late which have been discussed as Oscar contenders, even as they’ve crashed and burned at the box-office.
The Dwayne Johnson-led $50 million budgeted “The Smashing Machine” saw a brutal 70% decline in its second weekend from an already well under projections start. Thanks to foreign rights deals, the losses on the film are expected to work out at roughly $10 million.
The Channing Tatum-led “Roofman” debuted to a poor $8 million but will be partly saved by its tight $19 million budget.
As analysts indicate – the titles currently playing, many of which were premiered on the Fall film festival circuit, simply aren’t drawing people out to cinemas.
