Robert Pattinson's New Sci-Fi Film Eyeing Disappointing Box Office Returns

“Remarkable.” “Fascinating.” “Thought-provoking.” “Thrilling.” “Wickedly funny.” “Insightful.” “Powerful.” “A visionary achievement.”

Those are just a handful of the accolades critics have been heaping upon Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17 since the movie premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in February. Despite the overwhelmingly positive reviews, plus Robert Pattinson in a dual starring role, audiences don’t seem to be warming to the offbeat sci-fi flick.

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As Variety reports, the pricey picture faced a rough opening day, hauling in a paltry $7.7 million between preview screenings and opening day tickets sales on Friday, despite playing in more than 3,800 theaters.

Box office prognosticators expect the film to net a total of $18 to $20 million during its opening weekend, which should be enough to knock Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World out of the top spot, but those totals don’t bode well for the movie’s overall performance. Especially when you consider its $118 production budget alone (which doesn’t include marketing or distribution costs).

While some have questioned the decision by Warner Bros. to make such a big-budget bet on Joon-ho, whose filmography has skewed more toward smaller-budgeted indies, there’s no denying his place in cinema history. 

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While most of his films have leaned more into smaller-budget indie territory, the South Korean director changed the game with 2019’s Parasite. Among its many firsts, Parasite was the first South Korean film to receive any Academy Awards acknowledgement. It was also the first non-English language movie to be named Best Picture, and still managed to win the Best International Feature Film statuette, too. So Mickey 17 was always facing an uphill battle as Parasite’s follow-up.

Perhaps TheWrap’s Jeremy Fuster summed it up best when he wrote that “Projections for [Mickey 17’s] opening weekend remain low for its budget level, standing at $20 million domestic and $45 million worldwide. At such a start, Mickey 17 would need some of the best legs of any film this year to match the $258 million global total of Parasite, which was produced on a tenth of the budget of Mickey 17.”