Last week saw the release of the historical drama Amsterdam starring Christian Bale, Margot Robbie and John David Washington. The film was written and directed by David O. Russell and was distributed by 20th Century Studios under Disney.



Despite having a star studded cast with many well known actors/actresses the film preformed poorly during its opening weekend, grossing around $10 Million its opening weekend and currently sitting at $12.1 Million.

The film was savaged by critics and audiences with a current Rotten Tomatoes scores of 33% critical and 59% audience. The film is being called “boring” and “too long” with multiple reports of people walking out of the theater. I myself witnessed people walk out during the screening I was at, so that is accurate.

The film cost and estimated $80 Million – $100 Million to produce with almost the same amount put into marketing the film. With the current track record at the box office the film will cost likely reach around $20 Million by the end of its run. That would cost the studio around $120 Million when factoring both budget and marketing.

Funny enough the budget reportedly would have been a little higher, but many actors were apparently talked into pay cuts for the chance to work with director David O. Russell. It isn’t known how accurate that rumor is, but it is a possibility since the film features many major stars who receive high pay for a film.

The box office failure of this film shows that films relying on big names doesn’t seem to work out anymore. You can seemingly no longer sell a film on star power alone. You need to have something compelling, something that audiences want to see. And clearly Amsterdam is a film that audiences did not want to see.

What do you think? Does Amsterdam deserve to flop or is it misunderstood? 

Source: Deadline