MOVIE: 'Birth of a Nation' Falls Flat at the Box Office with an Opening Weekend of $7 Million
Nate Parker’s ‘The Birth of a Nation’ was projected to open this weekend with a solid $10 million in ticket sales.
Unfortunately for Nate & the studio, the film is off to a slow
start — only pulling in $7.1 million. It debuted at No. 6 at the box
office.
via THR:
Nate Parker’s “The Birth of a Nation”
was not as fortunate, premiering to a disappointing $7.1 million across
2,105 theaters. The biopic about slave rebellion leader Nat Turner was a
sensation at the Sundance Film Festival, where it premiered to a
rapturous standing ovation and sold to Fox Searchlight for a
record-shattering $17.5 million. But the release was derailed after rape allegations against
Parker and his “The Birth of a Nation” co-writer Jean Celestin
resurfaced. Both men were accused of sexually assaulting a college
classmate over a decade ago. Though they were ultimately acquitted of
those charges, news broke this summer that their accuser had committed
suicide in 2012. The ensuing controversy overshadowed the strong reviews
and may have hurt the film’s Oscar chances.
“This is a pretty pedestrian result,”
said Jeff Bock, a box office analyst with Exhibitor Relations.
“Clearly, not all press is good press.”
Searchlight, however, believes that
the film’s A CinemaScore could lead to robust word-of-mouth, which might
help “The Birth of a Nation” draw an audience in the coming weeks.
Distribution chief Frank Rodriguez said he was pleased by how diverse
the audience for the film was — 54% of ticket buyers were
African-American and 42% were Caucasian. He stressed that it was
difficult to know how many people had opted not to see the picture
because of coverage of the rape accusation.
“The film stands on its own,” said
Rodriguez. “What it was before at Sundance, the actual celluloid, the
image, is still the same, but the perception may have changed and
there’s not too much anyone can do about it.”
With all of the controversy surrounding the film, we expected nothing less. Thoughts?
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