Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh can’t figure out why his latest movie, Black Bag, tanked at the box office.
Allow me to be of some help…
First off, I’ve not seen Black Bag. It never hit the sole theater in my little town. Believe me, we were lucky to get Anora. In this context, my seeing it or not doesn’t matter, primarily because I’m about to give Black Bag every benefit of the doubt before announcing my painfully obvious diagnosis as to why it bombed.
Black Bag earned a fantastic 96 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, along with 70 percent approval from non-critics. Over at Metacritic, Black Bag earned a “universal acclaim” rating of 85 percent. The story, written by David Koepp (Jurassic Park), looks like a slick spy thriller, not to mention a well-paced one at just 93 minutes. Cate Blanchett, Pierce Brosnan, and Michael Fassbender star. Finally, word of mouth, at least among people I trust, has been very positive.
From the look of the trailers, Black Bag is even a little sexy, which is a big deal after the Woke Terror outlawed anything that might appeal to Normal People.
So, what more do moviegoers want? What’s wrong with us?
Well, that’s what Mr. Soderbergh would like to know.
From the Independent:
“This is the kind of film I made my career on,” he [Soderbergh] explains. “And if a mid-level budget, star-driven movie can’t seem to get people over the age of 25 years old to come out to theaters – if that’s truly a dead zone – then that’s not a good thing for movies. What’s gonna happen to the person behind me who wants to make this kind of film?” Once the dust had settled on Black Bag’s opening weekend last month, its gross became a hot topic within the industry, he says. “I know for a fact, having talked to somebody who works at another studio, that the Monday after Black Bag opened, the conversation in the morning meeting was: ‘What does this mean when you can’t get a movie like this to perform?’ And that’s frustrating.”
… “Everybody at Focus Features [the film’s distributor] has assured me that ultimately Black Bag will be fine and will turn a profit,” Soderbergh added. “But the bottom line is that we need to figure out a way to cultivate this audience for movies that are in this mid-range, that aren’t fantasy spectacles or low-budget horror movies.”
… “They’re movies for grown-ups, and those can’t just go away.”
Director Steven Soderbergh during the Opening Ceremony of Sitges Film Festival on October 3, 2024, in Sitges, Spain. (Borja B. Hojas/Getty)
I’m not here to argue with any of this. Not a single word. Bottom line: Black Bag is a great movie, and almost everyone who’s seen it loves it. Period. No sarcasm. Nevertheless, Black Bag grossed just $21.4 million domestic on a $60 million budget. It tanked even harder overseas with just $16.3 million—and no one with half a brain is in any way confused over why it bombed…
Michael Fassbender is a wonderful actor. In the right role, like the cyborg in those Alien sequels/prequels?/whatever, he’s perfect. But he is not a movie star, and you can’t — this is how Soderbergh put it — “get people over the age of 25 years old to come out to theaters” without movie stars.
Michael Fassbender is no Sylvester Stallone, Denzel Washington, Kevin Costner, Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Mel Gibson, Richard Gere, Brad Pitt, Harrison Ford, Michael Douglas, Leonard DiCaprio, or Bruce Willis…
And as wonderful as Cate Blanchett is, she is no Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, Ashley Judd, Sharon Stone, Drew Barrymore, Goldie Hawn, Sigourney Weaver, Demi Moore, Kathleen Turner, or Meg Ryan.
Some of you might be looking at those names above, thinking: 1) Those stars are past their box office prime, and 2) they’re not right for the parts.
Sure, Fassbender’s chilly, rather sexless presence might be a perfect piece of casting for Black Bag, but that doesn’t matter.
What also doesn’t matter is the fact that many of the stars listed above are too old for the part.
My point is this…
In 1998, Black Bag would’ve made $150 million domestic for one straightforward reason: movie stars.
All things being the same, You drop a (in their prime) Michael Douglas and Ashley Judd in Black Bag, or Bruce Willis and Sharon Stone, or Kevin Costner and Demi Moore… And there you go. Box office gold.
Nobody says, Let’s go see a Michael Fassbender movie. And I have nothing against Michael Fassbender. He’s unquestionably a great actor, and as far as I know, he’s never said or done anything to alienate movie fans. But he’s not a movie star. That special thing Bruce Willis and the rest have, Fassbender does not.
Here’s what happened…
Thinking they could get rich forever on “high concept” and IP and sequels, prequels, remakes, and reimaginings, Hollywood killed the movie star. Instead of grooming stars with careful public relations and “star vehicles” (i.e., movies tailored to a particular screen presence to create an appealing screen persona), Hollywood has spent the last 20 years working around movie stars; finding alternate ways to draw crowds.
And now the industry is all, Why won’t anyone go see a $60 million adult thriller, der, der, der.
Here are my questions: Why should we go see your $60 million adult thriller? What are you offering that we cannot get at home?
And don’t blame this on streaming. Good heavens, streaming is just another form of cable TV, and in the 1990s, when 100 million households had 150 channels to choose from on cable TV, $60 million adult thrillers thrived.
Why?
Movie stars!
When people write about how movie theaters survived the phenomenon of television in the 1950s, all we hear about is Cinemascope and VistaVision, and how the screens widened and big-budget spectacles ruled. That’s all true. But something else movie theaters had that television didn’t back then was…
Movie stars!
Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart, Bogart, Brando, Clift, Holden, Sinatra, Doris Day, Sophia Loren, Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas… I could go on forever. If you wanted to see movie stars, you had to go to the movies.
And if your screenplay requires a cold presence like Fassbender, fine. Stick to your artistic vision. But if you want a box office hit, you have to adjust and rewrite so a Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts can attract an audience.
Normal Men don’t want to be Michael Fassbender. They want to be Bruce Willis or Robert Mitchum or Steve McQueen or Brad Pitt or Kurt Russell. Even after 20 years of Hollywood’s obsession with the girly-man metrosexual, human nature has not been rewired. (see: Stone, Yellow.) There’s no wish-fulfillment to be had through a Michael Fassbender.
Normal Men want to fall in lust or love with the leading lady. Preferably both. Going back 100 years, this has been true for the movies. Cate Blanchett is beautiful and sexy, and one of the top five in the acting profession today. But on the Movie Star Scale, she is no (in their prime) Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts, Goldie Hawn, or Ashley Judd. And don’t get me started on the wealth of womanly treasures delivered during the Golden Age–actresses who still capture our fantasies.
Tell me I’m wrong… Tell me a 40-year-old Mel Gibson and a 35-year-old Kathleen Turner would not have turned Black Bag into an early summer hit.
Black Bag died for one reason: there is no one to replace an in-their-prime Kathleen Turner and Mel Gibson.
Actually, there are two reasons, the second being a director so isolated he doesn’t understand why his Michael Fassbender movie wasn’t a big hit.
Hey, we’re still the same people who find the same things appealing that we always have.
It’s y’all who changed, and it’s y’all who need to get out more.
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.
