Monday Morning Quarterback Part I
By BOP Staff
August 24, 2009
David Mumpower: What I find fascinating about this question is Pitt's history as a draw. Tim mentions that he's had 8 $100+ million films and he's already stated three of those were from the Ocean's franchise. Among the other five, Interview with the Vampire was an instance where he was co-lead but not the primary draw. Se7en was a situation where the story did most of the ticket selling. Its opening of just under $14 million was nothing special. Word-of-mouth carried the day there. Troy's opening weekend of $46.9 million was a huge disappointment for a title with a $150 million budget. Foreign receipts carried it to a successful overall performance, but it was a North American loser. And an argument could be made that Mr. & Mrs. Smith was more Jolie than Pitt. At a minimum, it was 50/50 between them.
Coming into the distribution of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Pitt had been featured in several successful films whose performance could not be directly accredited to him. Now, he's had two straight releases where it was all him and both of them have pleasantly surprised. He's finally leveled up as a box office draw by gradually growing into the role, not unlike a professional athlete needing several years in the league before finally developing into an MVP candidate. It helps that he finally found a way to take unusual roles that cater to his penchant for the weird yet still offer tremendous box office upside in the same way that Robert Downey Jr. did with Iron Man. The entire industry has learned from Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow example.
Max Braden: I certainly wouldn't write the headline "Brad Pitt's next movie will open over $30 million." I also wouldn't have faith in him going solo in a thriller or even with a Sandra Bullock type romantic comedy. If you look at Mr. & Mrs. Smith, the Ocean's series, and Basterds, what he seems to do well with is some action mixed with some light comedy - playing a cad or a charming scoundrel.
Jason Lee: While I agree that Pitt typically falls into the "star overshadows the film" scenario, with almost any other actor in Pitt's role, this film opens in the Kill Bill range. I'm just saying.
Sean Collier: I think there's a sliding scale. A film like Basterds or Benjamin Button, Pitt can probably bump the opening up by $10 to $20 million. A film like Burn After Reading or Babel, it really won't matter. He turns heads, but isn't guaranteed money.
David Mumpower: One point I do want to make about Burn after Reading is that while Clooney deserves most of the credit, that film earned $60.4 million. The Ladykillers, a similarly weird criminal caper from the Coen Brothers, starred no less than Tom Hanks yet managed only $39.7 million. Pitt's name in the title does mean something. It's simply difficult to quantify exactly how much.
Jason Lee: I think including the shot of Brad Pitt dancing on a treadmill in the film's trailer and commercial definitely provided a BO boost to Burn After Reading. He was hysterical in that film and I think part of its draw was getting to see Pitt act like a complete dunderhead.
David Mumpower: He was *acting*. Yeah, that's the ticket.
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