‘Our Brand Is Crisis’ Dismal Opening The Worst Of Sandra Bullock’s Career
Our Brand Is Crisis, starring Sandra Bullock, had a terrible opening this past weekend. Maybe it can be blamed on Halloween? It certainly wasn’t the only movie to underperform at the box office this weekend, with Burnt starring Bradley Cooper and Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse also coming in under expectations. In fact, the weekend was the worst of the year. However, for Academy Award-winning actress Sandra Bullock, the dismal opening of Our Brand Is Crisis is also the worst of her career.
Critics were also not kind to the movie after its opening this weekend. The Wall Street Journal reports critiques that do nothing to bolster the movie’s popularity.
“It’s a case study, if nothing else, of starting with a dubious idea and making it downright awful.”
How badly did Our Brand Is Crisis perform? It only brought in a measly $3.4 million. Bradley Cooper’s Burnt didn’t do much better at $5 million. Compare this to the weekend release of James Bond’s Spectre in the U.K., which raked in $63.8 million; although, to be fair, audiences in Europe were not as distracted by Halloween as were those in the United States.
What are fans saying about Our Brand Is Crisis? It seems most of those who saw the movie feel better about it than the critics, and for those who didn’t like it, some blamed producer George Clooney rather than Bullock’s acting.
You can view the official trailer for the movie below.
Warner Bros. will perhaps be the hardest hit after the unsuccessful launch of Our Brand Is Crisis. This is not the first flop for the studio this year. Movies that under-performed include Pan, Jupiter Ascending, Hot Pursuit, Entourage, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and We Are Your Friends.
This week on DStv BoxOffice: Entourage, The Gallows, Midnight Sun and more… https://t.co/OfcOWofaJL pic.twitter.com/gDx1NA4ESV
— AsuquoE (TMN) (@talkmediang) October 26, 2015
Warner Bros. has had some successes this year, particularly with American Sniper, San Andreas, and Mad Max.
Just watched American Sniper..incredible powerful film…Patriotism at it’s unforgiving highest level lost 4 words pic.twitter.com/aN2XOtcYV0
— steve winstanley (@stevewin74) November 6, 2015
They have also had many past hits, such as the Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and Batman franchises. The industry is tough, though, as Laura Martin, an analyst with Needham & Co., tells the Los Angeles Times.
“No studio made it look easier to make hits than Warner Bros. They’ve had the magic touch for a decade… so this is a surprise coming out of Warner Bros., but not a surprise given the industry they compete in.”
As for Sandra Bullock, despite the box office bomb of Our Brand Is Crisis, she still has plenty left in her career. Even if the movie flopped, her performance was still phenomenal. Vox reports Sandra Bullock is in the works to play the lead in an all-female Ocean’s Eleven that will be directed by Gary Ross. An all-female cast in a reboot of Ocean’s Eleven could be fantastic if properly executed.
What about the former Bolivian president, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada (Goni), who was in power during the events that inspired a documentary after which the movie Our Brand Is Crisis was named? Foreign Policy reports that a source said the ex-president would likely not see the movie.
“I don’t think Goni is going to see the film. But if he does, I can almost predict that he’s going to say that he enjoyed some part of the movie. He understands the American sense of humor in many ways. He may also be offended or hurt, as the film has too much fiction that is unfair to what really happened.”
Studios can only hope that the poor performance of Our Brand Is Crisis, along with the other movies that opened this past weekend, were truly due to Halloween. It’s still possible one or all of these movies will have a great turnout in the weeks to come.
[Photo by Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images]
