When the trailers, images, posters and basically everything for LIVE BY NIGHT started to pour it immediately got fans and film buffs ready for Ben Affleck’s rousing return to the directors after a 4-year gap since ARGO. However, the time for joy has passed, and Affleck’s movie is an official box office dud which will apparently cost the studio more than an arm and a leg.
Variety got the exclusive that the exact figure according to insiders and executives puts the number around the range of a whopping $75 million. The movie has so far only made $10 million since its wide release, and globally only accumulating about $16 million. It’s not expected to do well in the overseas markets, so ending up around the $20 million range is expected.
The loss is particularly disheartening not only because of Affleck’s name failing to get bums in seats, but because the production budget of $65 million (before marketing) seems relatively low for a period gangster flick. That amount would seem easy to regain given the box office of Affleck’s last two movies, ARGO and THE TOWN, but now when you factor in promotion costs that loss is gonna hurt. Warner Bros. will try to recoup the loss with at-home video sales and TV deals, but that’s a long way to go for a movie clearly people lost interest in seeing.
The movie was moved up practically an entire year to come out this December, with a lot of people (including myself) taking that to mean the studio was confidant in its Oscar chances. Then that first trailer dropped and the fans really got turned on, and you could practically smell the gold. However, the movie didn’t have a ton of early reviews out, nor was it making any of the early awards. Still, many Affleck fans (like myself) still held out in hopes in would just be a late breaker. But the birds have sung, and now they’re all dead.
It’s a shame the movie failed so hard. Even after the critics started piling on (sans our own Chris Bumbray) I expected it to make at least in the $20-$30 million domestic range, purely because of Affleck and the action-gangster-drama angle. But in a season with STAR WARS and worthy Oscar contenders taking all the sunshine there was nothing left but clouds and rain for LIVE BY NIGHT. But this is a speed bump in an otherwise exemplary director career for Affleck, and I have full confidence the Bat will bounce back. Alliteration!
LIVE BY NIGHT could still be in a theater near you…maybe.