Thursday, October 10, 2024

Box Office Bust as “Steve Jobs,” Dan Rather Movies Prove More Interesting to Media than to Public

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It’s not good news at the box office this weekend. Danny Boyle’s excellent “Steve Jobs” movie is proving of not that much interest to the public. Going into wide release, “Steve Jobs” will make just $7 million this weekend. Apparently even devotees of Apple products are not that fascinated with the megalomaniac behind them.

Also in a box office ditch is “Truth,” the well made but questionable film about Dan Rather and producer Mary Mapes’s ouster from CBS after corporate cowards failed to back them. As with “Steve Jobs,” the filmmaking and acting are superb. But the subject matter isn’t universal enough to captivate a mainstream audience.

Even worse this weekend is Barry Levinson’s amusing “Rock the Kasbah” with Bill Murray and Bruce Willis. It’s just not happening.

Steven Spielberg’s “Bridge of Spies” is doing a lot better than all these movies, and I think may be a keeper in the long run. But it’s not going to be “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Box office pundits should relax about “Bridge” being Spielberg’s low-grosser. It’s a really great film. Everything can’t be “Jurassic Park.”

And so we wait for the new “Star Wars,” for James Bond, for Tarantino. In the meantime, these other films are what movie making is all about. Don’t miss them on a big screen.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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