Babylon: Damien Chazelle Film Is A Box Office Failure!

Babylon is the new Damien Chazelle film who has previously directed films like Whiplash, La La Land and First Man. Chazelle’s latest film focuses on Brad Pitt as he stars as Jack Conrad, a party-loving superstar in his late prime, whereas, Robbie plays Nellie LaRoy, a talented young actress, whose recent breakthrough performance has made heads turn. The film is trying to the lust for fame in 1920s Hollywood. The sets look lavish and each character so distinct. The film is supposed to be different period piece and both of these things are a major requirement. Tobey Maguire looks unrecognizable in the film. The film is going to present us with much darker characters and themes than Chazelle’s previous works. However, the themes would reminiscent as this film too plays with themes like ambition, love, lust for success.

These themes are predominant in Chazelle’s filmography. In comparison the trailer has more of a fun, dark comedic vibe. All I know is this is a film you have to watch on the big screen. Despite being an Oscar winning director, the reviews for Chazelle’s Babylon have not been great and what’s worse is that the audiences are also rejecting the film making it a box office failure. First one for Chazelle. Let’s see why?

Babylon opened up to only $3.5 Million even though it was projected to earn $12-15 Million. At the end of its second week, the film only collected $11 Million. With a hefty budget of $80 Million, which is a lot for an original film which doesn’t belong to any IP. If you add the marketing budget of the film which was as much as its production budget then the film at least has to make $250 Million to break even. The domestic release of the film definitely won’t take it to that number because of the current trajectory.

The film is supposed to have a wider release worldwide in January but based on how Avatar: The Way of Water is ruling the box office, I don’t think so a film like this is going to survive. That is another reason for the film bombing, it was released alongside Cameron’s box office juggernaut. The third reason for the film’s failure were the reviews which were the worst for any Chazelle film. The last reason for the film’s failure is the budget. Every Chazelle film before this had smaller budgets like La La Land which was made in $30 Million but earned $472 Million.

His directorial debut Whiplash was made in $3.3 Million and earned $49 Million. His third film, First Man had a budget of $59 Million and it made $105 Million on the box office. Babylon was his most expensive film which has crashed at the box office. I’m not sure what will be the ramifications of it on Chazelle’s career, hopefully his previous successes will cover up for that blunder. I know one thing though, the future for independent cinema is definitely bleak as this original film bombed it means that original films would definitely be given lower budgets now.

Watch the Full Trailer for Damien Chazelle’s Babylon on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/t7HT83wkVss

Babylon stars Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie in the lead with supporting performances from Diego Calva, Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li, Jean Smart, and Tobey Maguire. Babylon is slated to release worldwide from 6th December 2023.

If you have any questions regarding Babylon, feel free to ask in the comments below. For more content, stay tuned. As usual, like, subscribe and share our articles as we here are trying to build a community of people High on Cinema!