Kevin Spacey’s New Film, ‘Billionaire Boys Club,’ Only Earns $126 On Opening Day
Kevin Spacey may not be the box office gold he once was, as his latest feature film, Billionaire Boys Club, barely raked in $100 on opening day. What was once hailed as a potential blockbuster, and tabbed to be a solid earner at the least, has become a leper among summer movies. With a cast that, according to IMDB, includes Judd Nelson, Emma Roberts, Cary Elwes, Emma Roberts, and Ansel Elgort, a $126 opening day haul was unthinkable a year ago. So was only opening on 10 screens in mostly small market cities. However, as most people are aware, Kevin Spacey was exposed as a part of the #metoo movement for sexual assault and it has severely damaged, if not killed his career.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Billionaire Boys Club was first available on VOD (Video On Demand), but it is not believed to have factored into the poor reception at the box office, as very few people demonstrated demand for it. That, in part, explains the small market opening on only 10 screens across the country, in places such as Sarasota, Antioch, and Middletown, Connecticut. They reported that each screen averaged $12.60, or put another way, $9.27 per ticket.
Film Review: ‘Billionaire Boys Club’ https://t.co/Qgov46hXaR
— Variety (@Variety) August 18, 2018
There wasn’t a budget to re-shoot the film after Spacey’s outing in the #metoo movement, so the film was left in limbo, hoping he would be less “toxic” in the future. When that didn’t appear to happen, and Spacey found himself losing his Netflix series, House of Cards, and watching Ridley Scott replace him in All the Money in the World, it was decided that going straight to VOD might be the only option. Although it took time to find theaters with interest in screening the film, enough eventually materialized to make this weekend opening possible.
save yourselves the hassle watching #BillionaireBoysClub 2018 – it is utterly disappointing!
— Ifeyinwa /e fay Yin WA/ ?? (@IfyLeeee) August 18, 2018
Vertical Entertainment released a statement, carried by the Hollywood Reporter, asking people to please look beyond Kevin Spacey’s appearance in the film when considering whether or not to watch it.
“We hope these distressing allegations pertaining to one person’s behavior — that were not publicly known when the film was made almost two-and-a-half years ago and from someone who has a small, supporting role in Billionaire Boys Club — does not tarnish the release of the film. In the end, we hope audiences make up their own minds as to the reprehensible allegations of one person’s past, but not at the expense of the entire cast and crew present on this film.”
