Why Sacha Baron Cohen's 'The Brothers Grimsby' Failed to Attract Audiences
Sacha Baron Cohen's latest film, "The Brothers Grimsby," flopped, making it clear that a star studded cast or well known director do not automatically make a box office hit.
Movie audiences have become extremely difficult to predict. Back in 2006, Baron Cohen jumped into the scene with his Oscar-nominated film "Borat," which went on to become a huge box office hit, as well as a critical darling. Ten years later, the actor-director has created three similar films, adding "Bruno" and "The Dictator" to his resume, but everything after "Borat" has underperformed and obtained terrible reviews.
What has driven this lackluster box office performance?
Repeated Themes and Jokes
Audiences today look for originality in films. No film director can get away with making the same film twice because the results will not be as good and critics will likely destroy the second movie. "Bruno" came out three years after "Borat," and the film went on to gross only half of what "Borat" made. "The Dictator" in turn got half the return of "Bruno."
"The Brothers Grimsby" opened with $3 million, meaning it will likely make $15 million by the end of its run. All four of these films used similar themes and similar jokes. At this point, audiences are infuriated and are no longer interested in seeing the same material over again.
Negative Press
Reviews are playing an increasingly important role in which films audiences go see. For a big franchise, reviews don't make a huge impact, but if the film is unknown, then filmmakers have to hope for good press.
"The Brothers Grimsby" was the latest Baron Cohen film to be crushed by bad press. It currently has a 38 percent aggregate score on Rotten Tomatoes. That's compared to "Borat," which had a 92 percent aggregate score when it was released. While "Borat" was fresh and different from what had been seen before, there are now so many other good films available, Baron Cohen's latest project was overlooked by audiences for better quality entertainment.
Overcrowded Slate
Four films were released over the weekend, and two, "Cloverfield" and "The Young Messiah," had very good reviews. It also did not help that "Deadpool" and "Zootopia" have received great reviews and are bringing in massive adult and young audiences.
When "Bruno," "The Dictator" and "Borat" were released, they were the highest profile films of their opening weekends and got much more attention. "Cloverfield" was the biggest release of the week, making "The Brothers Grimsby" an afterthought for most audiences.
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