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Matthew Vaughn’s expensive spy comedy “Argylle,” starring Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell, looks to be a bomb as its debut this weekend landed with a thud.
As far as reviews go, the movie sucked. It is at 35% (5/10) with critics and 65% with audience in rotten tomatoes36/100 with critics and 4.5/10 with audience in metacriticand earned a woeful C+ CinemaScore in audience exit polls.
The title grossed $5.6 million on Friday for an estimated $16.5 million opening this weekend. In foreign markets, its figures are on par with the opening weekend which is estimated at $16.9 million.
A $33.4 million start would be fine for a profitable film, but “Argylle” reportedly has a production budget of $200 million. If made by a mainstream studio, that kind of start would be seen as a box office disaster.
Since this comes from Apple, one of the richest technology companies in the world, the verdict on its success (accurate or not) is seen differently, even when the film has the same release window and marketing strategy as a conventional studio film.
It is Apple’s third traditional theatrical release recently, after “Killers of The Flower Moon” and “Napoleon,” which also cost $200 million to produce. Those films will likely fare better in the end, as they ultimately grossed $158 million and $219 million worldwide.
Universal is distributing the film for a distribution fee so its bottom line doesn’t suffer.
It was the only new release this weekend, aside from the opening episodes of the fourth season of the religious series “The Chosen,” which grossed an estimated $3.3 million.
The results do not bode well for Vaughn, who has indicated in interviews that he hopes to adapt the Argylle character’s in-universe plot into his own feature film followed by a direct sequel.
Fountain: THR