“American Made” Is Latest Tom Cruise Box Office Disappointment…
I am a Tom Cruise fan. He’s made a lot of great films, and is always willing to put it all out there – see “Magnolia” and “Tropic Thunder” as two examples, but his recent films are going the wrong direction at the box office.
“American Made” Opens Soft…
Tom Cruise’s latest film opened in the US yesterday. Based on weekend trends, “American Made” is on track to be Cruise’s worst opener in decades. The film is looking to hit $15-million in its opening weekend, and may not even open at #1, losing out to last week’s “Kinsgman” sequel and the fourth weekend of “It.”
Is it his fault? The film was over 80% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is a aggregator of reviews – so the quality of the movie isn’t the issue. The issue is this: the movie business has changed, and there are no “movie stars” any more.
More than ever, movies are sold as “events”, with superheroes leading the charge. Films that depend on a “movie star” to sell them are struggling…
Deadline.com has this great box office analysis this morning about Tom Cruise’s recent films:
“It’s his lowest opening in close to five years, since Jack Reacher‘s $15M. Though it’s a great movie, American Made is coming in lower than last autumn’s critical displeasure Jack Reacher 2 which opened to more than its first chapter ($22.9M to $15.2M) and fizzled out with a 2.6x multiple ($58.7M). That’s likely the same leg factor here. Uni is hoping American Made legs out like Girl on the Train, but that’s a completely different movie altogether with a higher ($24.5M) opening, and a bestselling piece of chick lit that drove women to the theater. At the end, Girl earned a 3.1x multiple or $75.4M domestic. American Made nee Mena is original IP based on Gary Spinelli’s spec script which Uni shelled out $1M for three years ago. Outside of his Mission: Impossible films, Cruise tends to average roughly a $22M domestic B.O. start over the last 10 years, and American Made is shockingly under that despite the fact that it’s such a fantastic rebound for him quality wise since last June’s disaster The Mummy.”
A few years back, I looked at his sci-fi thriller “Oblivion” – noticeable in that it failed to gross $100-million at the US box office – the beginning of his downward box office trend.
You can see more of that movie’s box office performance here:
https://johnrieber.com/2014/06/08/edge-of-oblivion-tom-cruises-superstar-swan-dive/
Since then, Cruise has starred in a number of movies such as “Jack Reacher”, which as noted by Deadline, barely grossed $50-million in the US:
This summer, Cruise starred in the huge box office bomb “The Mummy”, which failed to resuscitate a worn-out horror franchise:
Cruise wasn’t alone. You can read about all of this summer’s box office bombs here:
Cruise hasn’t made a romantic comedy in years – he has chosen to act in thrillers and action movies – and his “Mission:Impossible” franchise is still going strong.
But movie audiences have rejected all of our traditional action stars recently:
Matt Damon’s action epic “The Great Wall” fizzled upon release, and some of the latest films from Keanu Reeves have gone straight to video:
I posted a story about this terrific kung fu film, directed by Reeves – and how the future of film is on demand in your home more than ever – check it out here:
https://johnrieber.com/2013/10/07/james-franco-keanu-reeves-ondemand-the-new-future-of-film/
“American Made” got great reviews, and I hope the box office turns around!
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johnrieber 
I have always supported Tom Cruise. We are the same age and I’ve been right with him at every movie since he blew me away in Taps. Tonight I’m going to see American Made.
Hmm. I didn’t see The Mummy or the Jack R. duo. I don’t know if I’ll rent them, either. You raise an interesting point. We don’t see him in romantic films. I never think of him as a romantic. Jerry McGuire was a great one.
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He chose a different path than a romantic lead, but action stars don’t resonate at the box office. i am a fan of his and like his movies usually, but the choices over the past 5-6 years are strange to say the least at times….
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I liked ‘Minority Report’, mainly for Samantha Morton. I also enjoyed ‘The Last Samurai’, though mainly for the Japanese actors. I thought Cruise was at his acting best in ‘Collateral’. He really ‘acted’ in that film, and showed a different side.
I won’t be holding my breath for ‘American Made’.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Yes, “Collateral” was great, and he is willing to go wild like “Tropic Thunder” and “Magnolia” as well…but these films seem almost “TV movies” – and his last several don’t even have interesting co-stars like you reference…thanks for the comment, Pete~!
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