Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Sony-Apple’s “Fly Me to the Moon” Implodes on Lift Off with $4.5 Mil Opening on $100 Mil Budget

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People will be talking about “Fly Me to the Moon” for a long time.

Somehow, this romcom from Sony and Apple cost $100 million. That is totally insane.

Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson star, TV guy Greg Berlanti directed, and reviews weren’t great but pretty good.

The opening Friday plus previews came in at $4.5 million, which means an implosion at lift off. What a shame.

Who’s at fault? Probably Apple, although Sony can share the blame. There was little advance PR on this title. It just sort of popped up at the last minute with no warning. It fell between the cracks, which were wide as sinkholes.

Apple’s marketing director recently quit or was ousted. This was a person often referred to by others at Apple but never seen or spoken to. The rest of the Apple PR people are outstanding, but they’ve always looked like they’re under a lot of pressure.

I missed the “Fly Me to the Moon” premiere because of a summer cold. But I will go see it as soon as possible. I’ll bet it’s surprisingly enjoyable.

But really, how could it have cost $100 million? Did they recreate the moon and the actual Apollo rockets?

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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