Dismal reviews?
Bad word-of-mouth?
Or was this historical epic just a little too epic in length?
Here's why Babylon bombed, and bombed big, at the box office.
Babylon had a production budget of $110 million, which probably has gone to the huge cast as
well as the intricate and decadent set designs.
Colorful and sweeping, the film features plenty of dizzying scenes of parties, revelers, and
mind-numbing hedonism, which probably helps to explain where some of that budget went.
Unfortunately, the movie didn't do great during its opening week, making a paltry $3.6 million
in 3,343 domestic theaters.
Although still freshly released in theaters, projections for Babylon are beginning to look
quite abysmal.
Although many outlets weren't exactly projecting a massive haul for Babylon, some expected
the film to make at least its money back.
In late November, Box Office Pro predicted that the movie would have both positives and
negatives that may affect its financial prowess.
On the positive side, Babylon is a prestige comedy with a star-studded cast.
On the negative side, the early reviews weren't exactly the greatest, and historical films
tend to be hit or miss with many audiences.
They projected Babylon would make four to nine million dollars in its first week, with
a grand total of between 18 to 39 million in domestic totals.
Gaming Zion made a bold, although somewhat tempered bet on Babylon as well, saying that
gambling experts predicted a five- to six-million-dollar opening weekend.
"If I had money, I would only spend it on things that were fun."
As we mentioned earlier, some of the reviews for Babylon weren't exactly strong, which
may have impacted theatergoers' willingness to brave the winter weather and catch the
flick on the big screen.
On Rotten Tomatoes, Babylon currently has a 55% critic rating at the time of this writing.
In their review of the film, Salon claimed that Babylon is exhausting, finding that the
movie tries to do entirely too much over its runtime, though ends up saying very little
by the movie's culmination.
Similarly, Splice Today wrote that the first 90 minutes of Babylon is a hit in the making,
but unfortunately, the movie continues on for another 90 minutes.
Leonard Maltin offered a slightly more nuanced take on the movie, and said,
"I think what we have here in Hollywood is high art."
Many critics have pointed out the exceptionally long runtime of the movie, which is three
hours and nine minutes of absolute heartbreak and debauchery.
A daunting endurance experience for viewers, and one that may have proven to be too much
for some.
Speaking with Collider, director Damien Chazelle explained that editing the movie proved to
be a difficult process, saying that many of the scenes were cut, but eventually restored,
and this became somewhat of a back-and-forth throughout post-production.
"I've been working on this movie for almost 15 years."
Chazelle added that, at one point, Babylon ballooned to three hours and 40 minutes, and
that he and the editing crew had to chip it back down.
Chazelle continued,
"It's the biggest thing I've ever tried to do."
Another aspect that may impact box office performance for Babylon is the negative feedback
loop created by articles claiming that the movie has bombed or is in the process of doing so.
Nobody is exactly champing at the bit to go see a movie shrouded in negative articles,
and one doesn't have to spend too much time reading the news to see what we're talking about.
Deadline ran an article with a headline that claims that audiences were not jazzed for
Babylon, and that the movie has failed to meet expectations, resulting in an unquestionably
massive box office bomb.
Variety and Vanity Fair also mention Babylon and its failure to generate significant revenue
during its opening run.
Even Movie Web ran an article claiming that Babylon is the second flop this year for star
Margot Robbie, noting that her ensemble movie Amsterdam was also a misfire.
These are just a few examples, but it does highlight how negative press can have somewhat
of a snowball effect.
"If you could go anywhere in the whole world, where would you go?
Perhaps the biggest reason why Babylon hasn't attracted many large audiences comes down
to one big blue reason.
Despite the fact that the holiday movie-going experience doesn't exactly have too many adult-orientated
movies currently available, the success of Babylon may have been hindered by the sequel
to one of the biggest movies of all time — Avatar: The Way of Water.
A long-simmering continuation of the story presented in Avatar, The Way of Water is slowly
charting its way to box office success.
"We cannot let you bring your war here."
As noted by The Numbers, Avatar: The Way of Water is just shy of $1 billion in box office
sales at the time of writing, which represents the vast majority of theater-going experiences
over the past few weeks.
The draw and spectacle of Avatar: The Way of Water may have been enough to cut into
the audience that was initially interested in Babylon, which may only represent a small
sliver of ticket sales.
However, families aren't exactly taking their children to see a movie about the rise and
fall of 1920s Hollywood that ends on a relatively dour note, at least when one considers that
specific period of time.
Still, there seems to be a multitude of reasons as to why Babylon has been unable to climb
to the heights it had ambitions for, though there certainly is a chance that the movie
will experience a resurgence in interest during award season.
Even though Babylon has been somewhat divisive among critics, all agree on one thing: Margot
Robbie's performance is definitely worth some accolades.