Olivia Wilde’s high school comedy “Booksmart” will gross about $11 million in its first week in 2,505 theaters.
That’s good enough for sixth place, which inspired a bevy of commenters to rail about what its failure reveals about the fate of review-driven, quality, small-scale original movies in today’s market.Fact is, not every film lives or dies by initial results.
Nor are the standards by which we judge “Hellboy” the same as “Booksmart.” Initial gross is important, but then there’s a movie like “Green Book.” It opened before Thanksgiving in multiple cities to mediocre results, but with enough positive response to pay off over months (along with expensive marketing) that culminated with its Best Picture win and worldwide success.
Or last year’s “Book Club,” which opened wide under $15 million to nearly a 5X multiple.“Booksmart” opened on a holiday weekend, surfing upbeat media coverage from its SXSW launch.
Read full article