Sometimes, too much of a good thing is a bad thing.
Such is the case for Gemini Man, director Ang Lee's action thriller featuring not one
but two Will Smiths, one an aging assassin named Henry Brogan, played by Smith in a live-action
performance, and another nicknamed "Junior," a young clone of Henry sent to kill him, which
Smith portrayed through motion-capture.
"Ten years from now there will be court cases where people are like, 'I swear to God, that's
not me.'"
With Academy Award winning director Lee at the helm, action movie icon Jerry Bruckheimer
set as producer, Smith in the leading role, and David Benioff, one half of the Game of
Thrones showrunning team, with a credit on the screenplay, Gemini Man seemed to have
everything going for it, on paper, at least.
But after literal decades of development, the movie sadly opened in theaters to a decidedly
muted response.
"'Cause I'm the best."
"You are obviously not the best."
In its opening weekend that officially began on Friday, October 11, Gemini Man earned a
measly $20.5 million domestically.
Internationally, the film pulled in $39 million, bringing its worldwide debut total to just
$59.5 million, several million dollars under its reported production budget of $138 million.
To put things into perspective, $59.5 million is about what Fast & Furious spinoff Hobbs
& Shaw yielded during its opening weekend in North America alone.
It's also a little more than what John Wick: Chapter 3 earned in its first few days out,
also just domestically.
So, why did Gemini Man bomb at the box office?
Let's take a look.
Gemini Man had the unfortunate fate of opening the same weekend as a family-friendly animated
movie, which tends to draw in a good chunk of change regardless of its quality, and the
weekend after one of the most talked-about films of fall 2019 made its bombastic debut.
Though the majority of critics weren't impressed by it, MGM's The Addams Family managed to
take in $30.3 million domestically thanks to its star-studded voice cast, including
Charlize Theron as Morticia and Oscar Isaac as Gomez.
Released in time for Halloween, The Addams Family attracted audiences of all ages, sliding
into second place at the weekend box office, absolutely crushing Gemini Man but not even
coming close to toppling the film in first place.
It should come as no surprise that the number-one movie of the weekend was Joker, Todd Phillips'
gritty character study of the infamous DC Comics villain.
Starring Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, a failed comedian who experiences something
of a psychotic break and transforms into the Joker, the film earned another $55 million
domestically and $125.7 million internationally in its second weekend at the box office, bringing
its total to-date box office take-home to $543.9 million.
It's also a bona fide cultural sensation, and basically all anyone can talk about lately.
So it's not shocking that Gemini Man got bested by the Clown Prince of Crime.
It's not really Gemini Man's fault that it was up against some fierce competition, but
unfortunately, critical reception to the film has also been less-than-optimal.
On Rotten Tomatoes, Gemini Man holds a 25 percent approval rating from critics, who
have taken issue with the movie's frustrating story, its uninspired script, and visual effects
that only sometimes impress.
One critic hated Gemini Man so much that he described it as, quote, "an absolutely inexcusable
turkey."
Had Gemini Man been a critical success, it may have had a better chance at the box office.
Though Gemini Man tanked hard in its opening weekend, it still has a tiny chance at success.
The Hollywood Reporter has noted that the film is set to make a splash in China, where
it will launch on Friday, October 18.
However, unless the film pulls in hundreds of millions of dollars in that international
market, Gemini Man could end up costing its financial backers a ton of money.
Sources for Deadline have indicated that studio Paramount Pictures is looking at a loss of
about $60 million on Gemini Man.
"Henry, has this ever happened to you before?
Your own government trying to kill you?"
"Nah, that's new."
The bright side of this is that Gemini Man's scant box office earnings probably won't get
director Ang Lee down.
He shared with Forbes that he doesn't believe financial performance is the definitive marker
of a film's worth.
Lee also shared that he still stands by his past films, despite some of them performing
poorly at the box office.
Lee explained,
"You don't judge something by its financial success or not...I can argue this all day.
I've been there before.
My last movie, Billy Lynn, I felt that I was right, and the whole world was wrong, but
it doesn't matter."
Some may agree with Lee, and others may think he's talking crazy.
Either way, Gemini Man underperformed in its first weekend out, and it's looking like that
might spell big trouble moving ahead.
"I don't want to shoot you!"
"Mind if I shoot you?"
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