SUNDAY NOV 29 UPDATE: Still playing in miscellaneous theaters, “By the Sea” inched up to $482,204 this weekend domestically. But get this– it’s made $1 million abroad. Big in Italy. Ciao bella!
EARLIER With all the big holiday and Oscar releases, it was only a matter of time. It does seem that Universal has quietly removed Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s “By the Sea” entirely from release after 12 days. The film made 364,584 in the US and about $606,758 abroad. That’s not quite 1 million dollars total. Even if the stars took no salaries and underwrote all the travel for promotion, the movie had to have cost several million more. But it’s gone, maybe soon to be found on VOD or DVD. For now it’s DOA. A valiant effort.
Meantime, Universal also has reduced “Steve Jobs” down to just a handful of theaters in odd places where no one will notice it. It’s pretty much gone. How to revive it? The Danny Boyle film has great performances and a terrific script. I don’t know what the studio can do. For the first time this year Universal is not on the box office top 20 list. They ruled it for six months. It’s a tough biz that show biz!
