Friday, December 6, 2024

Call the Priest: Mark Wahlberg-Mel Gibson “Father Stu” Has Unholy Thursday, Falls 50% on 2nd Night

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Yikes. That was over fast.

On its second night of release, “Father Stu” succumbed to a cold death with a 50% fall off from night one.

The total was just $775,000, down from $1.55 million on Wednesday.

Call the priest, close the coffin, get the pallbearers. It’s over.

Audiences have simply rejected everything about this movie on an Unholy Thursday. It’s going to a Bad Friday.

Are we surprised? There are really great faith based movies that audiences embrace as genuine. Everything about this project has the feeling of a cash-in according to reviewers who largely panned it. Wahlberg may be sincere in his intentions, but involving Mel Gibson and his babymama Rosalind Ross — the latter to direct her only feature film, no less — was a mistake. I’m surprised. Wahlberg has made mostly smart moves as a producer in the past. Here he had a tin ear.

This was also a huge error on Sony’s part after a series of recent smart successes.

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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