Oscar Contenders and Would-Be Blockbusters Falter at the Box-Office

Fall Box Office Results Disappoint for Key Films

The Smashing Machine and Tron: Ares were among recent key movies that faltered at the domestic box-office and crushed expectations for potential Oscar nods.

Several films have disappointed at the box-office and it may change the way Hollywood films are released during the fall season. Hollywood movies with big stars are no longer guarantees of box-office dollars and Academy Award attention.

We can no longer predict films will be guaranteed Oscar bait even though they may appear (on the surface) to be just that. For example, Christopher Nolan highly praised Dwayne Johnson’s turn in what once seemed like a sure-fire Oscar contender, The Smashing Machine. With that kind of endorsement, Johnson should be a shoo-in for an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, and the film should have been a hit. That film’s co-star, Emily Blunt, was coming off Oppenheimer level-work too and was expected to be in the running for a potential Oscar nod as well. One problem, though: That pesky $11 million total domestic box-office gross. Johnson’s film was supposed to open at $20 million-plus in the US and Canada, but thus far it hasn’t even made $20 million worldwide. In fact, the big hits this fall steered towards less conventional films such as a Taylor Swift cash grab, The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, and Chainsaw Man: The Movie.

There was a hit prestige Oscar contender this fall, One Battle After Another, which has made $185 million worldwide even though just $66 million of that gross came from domestic ticket sales. Even with a bloated budget, most insiders project that film will spin a somewhat sizable profit. With Leonardo DiCaprio as the star, many expected a bigger turnout, but Warner Bros. was seemingly comfortable with the results, according to recent reports. The same probably cannot be said for Disney regarding the big-budgeted Tron: Ares, a movie which was quite enjoyable to some and maddening for others. It has only grossed $65 million domestically and $60 million internationally. That is a disappointing result for a movie which cost approximately $200 million to make. In addition, that film’s low numbers may hurt its chances at technical Oscar nominations.

Tron: Ares seemed like a bona-fide box-office bonanza, though, when considering the dismal takes of flat-out financial duds, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey and After the Hunt. A Big Bold Beautiful Journey made just $6 million in total domestically while After the Hunt earned a mere $3 million in the US and Canada. Those numbers are compared to budgets for those films which were said to be $45 million and $75 million, respectively. Margot Robbie and Julia Roberts are far away from their Barbie and Erin Brockovich days at the box-office. Roberts is no longer the Pretty Woman box-office draw she once was.

Let’s not mention the new Bruce Springsteen movie which also hasn’t exactly set the box-office “on fire” either despite most people agreeing it was a quality film. Box-office dollars were at a significant low this October and while Johnson may secure a nod for Best Actor on Nolan’s praise and that of other voters, the chances have slimmed a bit thanks to the film’s poor box-office performance.

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