EON's 'The Rhythm Section' suffers worst box-office opening ever record
05-Feb-2020 • Bond News
Here is a box-office record that no producer ever wants: worst opening of a widely released film of all time.
'The Rhythm Section,' starring Blake Lively by EON Productions, just secured that with a dismal $2.75m opening weekend box-office across 3,049 screens. Although it did not look good going into its opening weekend with a toxic 30% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 44% on Metacritic, box-office experts predicted the film would at least make $8m. It did not even get out of the starting blocks.
The film cost $50m to make and Paramount spent $31m to secure selected distribution rights before publicity and advertising costs. Paramount is expected to lose between $25-$30m on the film. The box-office is so terrible that they are reportedly considering pulling its international release and going straight to video.
It would appear that the blame game has started with industry outlets pointing at different fault lines.
Deadline is citing financing hell that put the creative team through the wringer from the start.
The report also identifies some creative disputes after a rocky road through filming: "in post-production, I understand that [director Reed] Morano, [Blake] Lively, and EON all clashed on what the final product should be, with the latter’s vision winning out. "
Over a year ago in late 2018, the film was screened for a test audience at the Sherman Oaks Arclight and was classed as one of the worst testing films in the studio's history. Industry watchers noted that Paramount limped in the absolute minimum publicity spend on the film, suspecting it was a dud.
EON issued this statement: "We are obviously disappointed with the box office, but proud of Reed and our movie and the overwhelmingly positive reaction to Blake’s performance."
