After a dismal run since the Disney (DIS) acquisition closed in March, 20th Century Fox is looking to the stars to help right the ship.
“Ad Astra” opens in theaters this weekend and it’s unlikely that the science fiction film will break any box office records. But it will still be an important opening for Fox, which is in desperate need of a hit.
Fox has had a bumpy year at the box office. Since Disney closed its $71 billion deal to acquire the studio and other Fox assets, Fox films such as “Dark Phoenix,” “Stuber” and “The Art of Racing in the Rain” have disappointed at the box office.
Disney CEO Bob Iger pointed out Fox’s struggles on an investor call in August saying that the studio’s performance was “well below where we hoped it would be when we made the acquisition.”
“Ad Astra,” which stars Brad Pitt as an astronaut who heads into outer space on a mission to find his father and save the world, is projected to make roughly $15 million to $20 million this weekend. That may seem miniscule compared to some of Disney’s blockbusters (“Avengers: Endgame” made about 10 times that in a single day), but this weekend performance is less about breaking the ticket booth and more about Fox’s reputation.
“Of the films Fox is slated to release for the remainder of 2019, it seems the one that is most poised to be a crossover success with a wide array of audience demographics,” Suzanne Scott, an assistant professor at the University of Texas’ Moody College of Communication, told CNN Business. “Because Fox is coming off of a string of underperforming films they are likely pinning their hopes on this film.”
Fox will follow “Ad Astra” with “Ford v Ferrari,” a racing film starring Christian Bale, in November and “Spies in Disguise,” an animated film starring Will Smith, in December.
“Ad Astra’s” success this weekend depends on reviews (the film has an 80% score on review site Rotten Tomatoes) and on the competition (“Downton Abbey” and “Rambo: Last Blood” also open this weekend). But Fox is ultimately banking on the star power behind Pitt, who appears to be going through a bit of a cinematic renaissance, according to Nikki Novak, a correspondent for Fandango.
“It started with ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood,’ with industry insiders buzzing about Pitt for a possible Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor,” Novak said. “He stole the movie, audiences fell in love with his character, he wooed the press corps.”
Even if “Ad Astra” meets box office expectations this weekend, it still has a long way to go before it recuperates a reported budget of more than $80 million. The film has so far made $1.5 million on its opening night Thursday.
A lot is riding on Pitt and the international box office. But he told GQ in a recent interview that he’ll gauge the film’s success beyond just the opening weekend numbers.
“Most of our films, which I feel is a mistake, get defined by the opening weekend. They’ll say it’s a hit or it’s a miss. But all of my favorite films, I found them well after the fact,” Pitt told the magazine. “History is rife with films that we love today that were abysmal ‘bombs’ on their opening weekend. And we find them later, or we catch up with them.”
Novak also pointed out that films about space travel have a “rocky track record.”
“They can be monster hits like Matt Damon’s ‘The Martian’ or big misses like Jake Gyllenhaal’s ‘Life,’” Novak said.
The success of “Ad Astra” is also important for the overall industry, according to Scott.
“Disney has been at the forefront of pushing a particular networked franchising model that is seen by some as squeezing out original, smaller budget, or more ‘adult’ fare,” Scott said. “It’s important that star-driven films like ‘Ad Astra’ perform at the box office because they offer a rebuttal that the older model is still viable.”
