Tuesday, August 2, 2022




Tom Cruise may have been dubbed “Hollywood’s Last Real Movie Star” by the New York Times, but Sony Pictures is betting big there’s at least one other leading man in Tinseltown who can pack theaters on the strength of his name alone.

The studio will test the power of Brad Pitt’s popular appeal as it opens “Bullet Train” in 4,300 North American theaters on Friday. The high-octane assassin thriller is projected to bring in $30 million or more in its box office debut, enough to lead domestic charts. It wouldn’t be a bad start in today’s fractured moviegoing landscape. But those projections are lower than independent box office experts were expecting for a high-profile thriller aimed at adult men.

The R-rated “Bullet Train” didn’t come cheap, so it’ll need to keep playing in theaters throughout the summer to justify its hefty price tag. Sony spent $90 million to produce the film, not including the many millions spent to promote it to the public.





Opening day, Metacritic is at 49 with 47 critic reviews.  It's 54% on RT with 162, 83% audience from 250+ 

Leitch's last 3 directorial efforts (FF Hoobs & Shaw, Deadpool 2, Atomic Blonde) had an ave. of 77% on RT.  Bullet Train is right in Leitch's wheelhouse and has a a strong cast, it is a surprise that it lags by this much.  But then Those Who Wish Me Dead was also right in Taylor Sheridan's wheelhouse, also with a strong cast, and it also lagged (62% on RT, 59 in Metacritic) his previous efforts as a director/ screenwriter (Wind River, Sicario).  It did better with the audience (86% on RT) and this likely will as well.  But the report above that leads in with Tom Cruise is lazy, tabloid-style writing trying to stir up Tom vs Brad.  It's a given that every movie tests the stars' box office drawing power -- how they are able to draw in more people than would see it otherwise.  Top Gun Maverick with 97% critics, 99% audience, PG-13, and a budget of $170M cannot be compared with Bullet Train on any level.  No star can overcome the quality of the film and "pack in theaters on the strength of his name alone."   

Bullet Train could be compared to Atomic Blonde (79% critics, 64% audience on RT) -- both R rated, both by Leitch.  Atomic Blonde opened to $18M on a budget of $30M, eventually making $50M domestic, $100M worldwide.  With 3X the budget, 3X the gross would seem to have been the target.  Tom was a producer of Top Gun Maverick.  He was paid $13M upfront but stands to make over $100M after its phenomenal success.  Brad was paid $20M to star in Bullet Train.  It looks like it was a good decision to have most of it upfront.






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