Robert Eggers’ new film The Northman underperforms at the box office over the course of its opening weekend. After the success of his previous efforts The Witch and The Lighthouse, Eggers began formally working on The Northman in 2019, but had been drafting a screenplay with Icelandic poet Sjón since 2017, after Björk introduced the pair. From the off, the project looked to be much larger in scale and budget than his previous films, with an increasingly large cast of A-listers and extensive location shoots in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Few could have guessed, however, that the film would eventually balloon to a budget as high as between $70-$90 million, as Eggers has been saying it cost in press interviews. Much of this has gone on marketing, as the film has had its posters in such places in Times Square and the NY Subway, although the latter didn’t go quite to plan, as many posters were put up without the film’s title on them. It seems that Focus was fairly confident the high-budget gamble would pay off, and that Eggers reputation would help to bring in audiences when the film hit theaters.
Ultimately, according to Variety, The Northman has performed quite poorly on opening weekend. While revenues of $12 million across 3,800 theaters would be amazing for most indie films, Eggers' latest outing cost ten-times more than the average small movie, meaning it could end up losing quite a lot of money for Focus Features. This is matched by an equally poor showing overseas, taking the film’s total international gross to $23 million.
While The Northman reviews have been very positive, it is predicted that the film could end its run taking only $30-$40 million domestically, meaning that, even with international grosses, the film could fall short of the estimated $200 million total it needs to break even. This is a huge shame, as it could seriously dissuade studios from investing in similar properties again, restricting larger budgets to more obviously commercial properties. Focus maintains that it views the opening weekend as a complete success, but it has to be questioned whether that narrative will change if the figures don’t pick up.
The Northman is the kind of film that rarely makes it to the big screen these days. At the moment, cinemas are either showing low-budget indies or IP-driven blockbusters, leaving little space for creative filmmakers to pursue original projects with bigger budgets. It can be hoped that, in the coming weeks, good word-of-mouth gives The Northman the major push it needs to show studios that investing in art-house directors is worth it, although nobody could be blamed for being pessimistic.
Source: Variety