James Franco and Seth Rogen‘s clusterf-ck of a film, The Interview, was released in theaters after all, on Christmas Day. So how did it do? The answer is, really well and not too well, at the same time. How is that possible? Well, it made $1 million in one day, which is good, but considering how much was spent on it, it’s also bad. I’ll let this Vox article do the rest of the talking:
The Interview made just over $1 million at the box office Thursday, for a per-screen average of $3,142 from its 331 theaters. Assuming normal box office erosion, it will likely make it to $3 million in traditional ticket sales by the end of Christmas weekend.
At first blush, that number seems pretty good. Making $1 million in a single day, on so few screens, is definitely an accomplishment. And the per-screen average isn’t bad either. The film finished 15th in overall sales on the day, but it finishes seventh in per-screen average, with three of the films coming in ahead of it — Selma, American Sniper, and the Indian import PK — playing on fewer screens. (Releasing a film to a handful of theaters first, to build excitement and hopefully reap high box office from just those theaters, is a time-honored strategy for Oscar contenders like Selma and American Sniper.)
You also have to consider that Sony has simultaneously released the film to Video On Demand, where it has been among the top sellers for YouTube and Google Play. Of course, we don’t get traditional box office figures for those sellers, just as we rarely get hard numbers for DVD sales. So we can’t know if The Interview has sold 1 million downloads or one dozen.
[…] The question, then, is if the $1 million number is good or disappointing. The film cost $44 million to make, and no matter how good the VOD numbers are, it seems highly unlikely to make back its budget (to say nothing of marketing). Sony will still take a substantial write-off on the film.
It’s a pretty interesting article, so if you want to read the whole thing, go right ahead. I won’t stop you. Consider it my Christmas gift to you. You’re welcome.
So anyway, who here saw The Interview this Christmas? What did you think? I think it looks terrible, and not in a fun, ironic way. Like I think it looks genuinely terrible. But I’m still open, considering you can stream it online. That means I don’t have to put on pants, which is great, because f-ck pants. F-ck pants forever.
Thoughts? Not on my pants, on the film.
I heard it was AWFUL. Anyone think Sony cooked up the whole scheme for publicity for this bad, bad movie?? I’ll take bets!
I normally wouldn’t be interested in seeing any movie featuring these 2 clowns so I didn’t miss anything at all based on 2 2-star rated reviews.
I thought it was funny.
Yeah, I saw the movie already and it is one of the worst comedies, comparable only to famous Hollywood movies such as Empire of the Ants and such. While it may seem as a good option to go to the cinema to see this movie, I would strongly advise you to just use you hold back and resist the temptation. There is nothing more boring than pretentious laughs about jokes, and the whole movie would do better if it played without the sound.
Well, since I thought it was funny, I will have to check out Empire of the Ants. I have no taste in movies. I liked Bride of Chucky and Tangled 2001 with Jonathan Rhys Meyers.