Ansel Elgort behind the wheel in Baby Driver

Edgar Wright is a beloved writer/director of cult classic movies like Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Scott Pilgrim vs The World. The auteur filmmaker has a loyal fanbase of dedicated followers, and he's been a critical darling since his days on the cult British television show, Spaced. His characteristic highbrow/lowbrow working-class brand of comedy has earned him accolades and a certain level of reverence... However, some might be surprised to learn that his uncanny knack for visuals and fast-paced, intimate storytelling savvy have yet to earn him any sort of major box office credibility.

Baby Driver is the director's latest attempt to create a commercial film which doesn't play by the established rules of Hollywood blockbusters, and the movie is already a box office success, thanks to a strong opening weekend and a small second weekend dropoff. Forbes describes Baby Driver as an "unqualified sleeper hit," and as of the time of writing it has already tripled its $34 million production budget in worldwide box office gross.

How does it compare to previous Edgar Wright movies, and why did Baby Driver succeed where, or example, Scott Pilgrim failed? Read on for our full analysis.

Four Films

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It may come as a surprise to his many fans, but Edgar Wright has never directed a bona fide box office smash before. Several of his films have seen a degree of financial success, and all four of them are critically-acclaimed, but it's hard to call any of them an indisputable home run.

While Wright had considerable cult success with Spaced, it was his first film, Shaun of the Dead, which put him on the map for many would-be fans. The horror-comedy tribute to the works of the late, great George Romero was produced for a paltry reported budget of $6.1 million. The British production only received a limited release in the United States, and only played at 675 theaters at its peak. Despite this, the film managed to rake in a fairly solid $13 million in North America, and a grand total of $30 million worldwide. That's not a lot of money for most Hollywood blockbusters, but considering its meager budget and subsequent ascension to cult classic status, it was certainly enough to keep Edgar Wright employed in the movie-making business.

For his second film, Hot Fuzz, Wright re-teamed with the leads of Shaun of the Dead, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Rather than a zombie horror spoof, Hot Fuzz took its inspiration from high-adrenaline action movies like Lethal Weapon, Point Break, and – in particular – Bad Boys II. Equal parts parody and tribute to the testosterone-laced genre of buddy cop thriller, as well as a scathing social satire all its own, Hot Fuzz was produced with a budget roughly double that of Shaun of the Dead, but still only $12 million. The film brought in $80.5 million worldwide, with 23 of those millions coming from the North American box office. It was significantly more money that Shaun of the Dead made, but somewhat less than industry insiders were expecting, considering Shaun's cult status and the perceived anticipation for Hot Fuzz. In any event, the film was a mid-sized hit, bolstered by its minuscule spending, and Universal Studios finally saw fit to entrust Edgar Wright with a full-on blockbuster project, with a reasonably large budget.

After tax rebates are factored in, the final reported cost for Scott Pilgrim vs The World was $60 million... Unfortunately, while it's currently one of the most beloved cult films this side of Serenity, Scott Pilgrim was a straight-up bomb at the box office. In North America, it topped Hot Fuzz to become Wright's biggest film yet, but, considering its budget, that's a dubious honor. With a final haul of only $31 million, Scott Pilgrim couldn't even count on the European market to bolster its coffers (as had been the case with Hot Fuzz). All told, the Michael Cera-starrer only brought in $47 million globally, a far cry from the estimated $150 million or so it would have taken to put Scott Pilgrim in the "win" column. Granted, the film became a major home video performer, but that's not what this article is about.

Following the failure of Scott Pilgrim, Wright reunited with Pegg and Frost for The World's End, which brought the budget down to a more manageable $20 million. Ultimately, the closing chapter of the "Cornetto Trilogy," after Shaun and Hot Fuzz, brought in $46 million worldwide. Less than Hot Fuzz, more than Shaun of the Dead, it was a financial non-entity which didn't make much money for its production company and distributor, but didn't exactly ruin their fiscal reports, either.

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Baby Driver

Edgar Wright had proven himself a versatile, hard-working director with his genre-defying Cornetto Trilogy and the breathtaking spectacle that was Scott Pilgrim, even if that film's greatness wasn't universally recognized until after it had already crashed-and-burned at the box office. He had originally planned to direct Ant-Man, a film with which he had been involved for many years of pre-production, but creative differences with the folks at Marvel caused him to drop out of the picture, a move which shocked the industry. While that's a long, sordid tale, this story isn't about what Wright didn't do; it's about what he did do, and he moved past Ant-Man to try his hand at a completely original action thriller, Baby Driver.

Originally scheduled for August 2017, the film was bumped up to June after successful test screenings, including a widely-publicized showing at the South by Southwest festival. It was a risky move; August is traditionally a safe time to release unorthodox would-be blockbusters Sylvester Stallone's R-rated Expendables films both saw considerable success in the month, as did off-kilter superhero-adjacent franchise fare like Guardians of the Galaxy and Suicide Squad. June is way more competitive, and there was certainly a fear that Baby Driver would be eaten alive by the likes of Transformers, Wonder Woman, and Spider-Man: Homecoming, also from Sony Pictures.

However, the move ultimately proved to be the right decision, and Baby Driver opened with $29.5 million over its first five days (it opened on a Wednesday, rather than the more traditional Friday). After only six days in release, it had already topped the final gross of Wright's previous highest-grossing film, Scott Pilgrim vs The World. Its total box office gross as of July 18th was $75.9 million domestically, and $99.1 million worldwide.

Keeping Costs Down

For some movies, a gross of $75 million after three weekends would be nothing short of disastrous. Transformers: The Last Knight is a domestic bomb with a gross of $114 million domestically, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is barely scraping by with its higher-than-expected (but still not nearly high enough) take of $170 million, a middling result for the $230 million production. Both of those flicks are counting on international performance to break even and eventually turn a profit... For the record, Pirates is doing far better on that front, with a current global total of $751 million. Meanwhile, Transformers currently sits at $517 million, a franchise low by a wide margin. It still has a few markets left in which it can make up some ground, but Michael Bay's latest will be lucky to crack $650 million once all is said and done.

Anyway, Baby Driver doesn't have that problem, because its budget is not an astronomical $250 million or anything even remotely close. Baby Driver, a grounded crime thriller with light-footed dialogue and a reliance on stunt driving over CGI spectacle, was produced on a reported budget of just $34 million. It has almost certainly made back both that production budget and the costs of marketing and distribution, and is turning a profit for Sony.

Hit or Miss?

Baby Driver has yet to open in many international markets, but it's already a success at the domestic box office alone. If it becomes an honest-to-goodness worldwide smash hit, then all the better. But even if it fails to make an impact globally, Sony still has a solid hit on their hands.

Sony Pictures made all the correct moves when it came to this project. They hired a hip director with a distinct style and they didn't try to force him into their box; they let him make his movie, and his movie happened to be a R-rated action flick with black comedy, larger-than-life characters, and some of the best music video sequences ever captured on film. In exchange, they kept their risk low by keeping the budget in check; even if Baby Driver had bombed hard, the damage to Sony wouldn't have threatened the livelihood of the studio or anything so dramatic.

As it stands, Baby Driver is a solid, mid-level hit. By the time the dust clears, the movie will likely clear $100 million at the North American box office, and if the global markets follow suit, we could be looking at an equally strong worldwide showing. Ultimately, Baby Driver is well on its way towards making a nice big pile of money for Sony. It's not going to be a mega blockbuster like Spider-Man: Homecoming, but it doesn't need to be. Sony is a studio in need of more mid-level hits, and, based on their immediate desire to pursue a sequel to the surprise sleeper hit of the summer, they are clearly more than satisfied with Baby Driver's performance.

Next: How The Damned’s ‘Neat Neat Neat’ Ended Up in Baby Driver

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