It was the worst of times.
“Napoleon” and “WIsh” were even bigger bombs than guestimated.
Sony’s “Napoleon” made just $32.5 from last Tuesday through today. It has a $200 million budget.
In the same time frame, Disney’s “Wish” took in just $31.7 million.
These receipts are about the same as a business lunch at some Hollywood restaurants. Ouch!
Quel domage! This means that Disney has two Thanksgiving turkeys. The other is “The Marvels,” which itself was DOA.
Disney has no other Christmas release. That’s it. And Sony’s big holiday movie, “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” was moved to next March.
It’s hard to say which of this weekend’s movies was the biggest disappointment, although I’d say “Napoleon.” The whole thing went completely sideways. The strike certainly didn’t help, but neither did Joaquin Phoenix as a press-shy leading man. There was nothing they could do with him. He wouldn’t talk, even at the last minute.
“Wish,” meantime, could catch on if one of the songs suddenly pops out on radio. But so far Ariana DeBose hasn’t appeared anywhere obvious singing — not even on a Macys Parade float. If one of the songs gets an Oscar nomination that would help, but just for the streaming and DVD releases. By the end of January, “Wish” will be long gone from theaters.
