Apple's umpteenth box office flop

Matthew Vaughn’s latest Henry Cavill action comedy disappoints.

Last weekend’s biggest release, ‘Argylle’, missed expectations. Neither Matthew Vaughn (after ‘Kick Ass’, ‘The Kingsman’, and the best X-Men film, ‘First Class’) nor its powerful cast (Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Dua Lipa, Samuel L. Jackson, Sam Rockwell, and Bryan Cranston) have managed to get the film to reach 20 million in the US.

A long way from recovering. ‘Argylle’ was an ambitious spy comedy blockbuster with a meta point (Howard is a novelist who discovers that everything she writes ends up in a real spy plot) and the house’s trademarks: striking cast, cartoonish action, and complicit humour.

However, it has remained at 18 million dollars in the US and 17.3 million internationally. Not including marketing and promotion, it cost 200 million.

Cinema is struggling. Vaughn had planned to start a trilogy with his film, as he did with ‘The Kingsman‘, but he will have to reconsider. Theatres have had a disappointing 2024: in the US, this weekend’s box office took 63 million dollars, 18% less than the same weekend in 2023. Theatres are struggling: in 2024, we have yet to see a weekend with 100 million in takings, and next week is the Super Bowl, which usually sets a record.

Everyone fails. Theatres must assess the situation (one possible explanation is that we are still recovering from the actors’ and scriptwriters’ strike last year, and there are few new releases: ‘Argylle’, ‘The Beekeeper‘, and few others have been blockbusters this year). But not just theatres: Apple (with Universal in distribution) produced ‘Argylle’, the third film in a row to underperform despite media attention.

Apple hot streak. Apple has been making headlines in recent months for producing two films that have made a lot of noise: ‘Killer Moon’, the triumphant return of Martin Scorsse in top form, which has many awards and nominations this season (ten for the Oscars). However,’Napoleon’, a film with mixed reviews, has been widely discussed (not always for the reasons its creators wanted).

However, they failed. Neither did well at the box office. Killers of the Moon grossed $15.6 million worldwide, despite Scorsese and Scott’s $200 million budgets and Argylle’s $200 million. Napoleon did slightly better with $219.4 million, but a film of this size needs $500 million to be successful.

Is Apple bankrupt? Not even remotely. The company’s finances are good, and stumbles like this are part of its strategy, unlike a traditional studio. As The Hollywood Reporter noted, a $200 million film could be severely harmed by such a setback. ‘Argylle‘ was scheduled to premiere on Apple TV+ in a few weeks, where Apple is betting heavily.

Netflix, Apple-like. Apple appears to be following Netflix’s lead in spending large sums on luxurious blockbusters that, as with ‘The Snow Society’, don’t care if they’re successful. Bayona’s film has helped increase platform subscribers, which is what it wants. Apple is doing that, but its platform is nowhere near Netflix’s public reach. Thus, ‘Argylle‘ is a significant but unconfirmed stumble.

Apple’s umpteenth box office flop

Matthew Vaughn’s latest Henry Cavill action comedy disappoints.

By knl9j

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