I don’t know if it’s a function of his deal with Netflix, or what is happening. But the latest release starring Adam Sandler is DOA at the box office. Total as of Sunday is $475K in 21 days.
“Juno” director Jason Reitman’s “Men, Women, and Children” made just $99,000 last night in 608 theaters. The social satire about families and their gadgets has been in stealth release since October 1st. Until Friday, in very limited number of theaters, “MWC” had made $154K.
The movie stars Sandler, Jennifer Garner, hot newcomer Ansel Elgort from “Fault in our Stars” and Dean Norris from “Breaking Bad.” Critics on Rotten Tomatoes gave it a very low ranking of 29%.
The poster for “MWC” doesn’t help– it has no pictures of stars or their names. It’s just an illustrated crowd scene with the name of the movie buried in the mess.
The film played at the Toronto Film Festival. But even I didn’t realize it had opened on October 1st. Reitman also directed the much loved “Up in the Air” with George Clooney and is considered a hot director. His last release, though, was not (thanks to a sharp reader) “Young Adult,” with Charlize Theron, fell short of the mark. Reitman’s more recent film was “Labor Day,” with Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin, making three disappointments in a row.
Sandler just signed a huge deal with Netflix for four films that won’t be released to theaters, just online to Netflix subscribers. I said then that his box office was way off, and that this was the best thing to do for him. It does seem like “MWC” will be his lowest grossing movie ever.
Meantime, Brad Pitt in “Fury” did an ok $8.8 mil Friday night for a $22mil weekend. Not a blockbuster by any means…
