Yikes! Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs movie is now being talked about as the year’s most disappointing box office flop, after taking a beating in its second weekend in theaters — dropping from a dismal $7.3 million opening weekend to just $2.58 million over the past couple of days.
I’m guessing at this point there’s no talk of Steve Jobs II: Think Differenter in the making!
Steve Jobs took just $1,035 per theater average this weekend, putting it last in the Top 10 box office category. That’s compared to the massive $130,250 per screen it made during its first weekend of limited release in New York and Los Angeles.
At this point, I’ve seen a ton of theories as to why the movie didn’t make any money. These range from too much Steve Jobs material over the past few years, to boycotts from Apple fans over the movie’s negative portrayal of Steve and “liberties” with the truth, to a potential Conservative backlash against actor Seth Rogen for comments made against Republican candidate Ben Carson.
As Box Office Mojo points out, “It’s a shame. It’s a very good film and now all involved are going to have to hope for some serious awards juice to keep it in the social consciousness and hope for some serious money from home video.”
As far as Jobs comparisons goes, this one is turning out to be more G4 Cube than iPhone!
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
21 responses to “Steve Jobs had another disastrous weekend at the box office”
Or, you know, people aren’t interested in spending half their paycheck to watch a snooze fest documentary about a guy who made phones. It would maybe, maybe, be a redbox or Netflix view at best.
You either need a better job or cheaper movie theater. :-)
Obviously an exaggeration, but I still couldn’t imagine spending upwards of $75 (if you buy food and what not) for 2 people to watch something that should be shown on 60 minutes.
It should probably have only been a made for TV movie or something direct to Prime/Netflix.
I saw it and was hugely disappointed. I honestly have no idea what that person was about or what alternate reality they were living in. If they were using a canvass to make something abstract they must have hired a chimp to throw paint at it to call it art.
twallop
I didn’t see it because I felt like there were too many liberties taken with facts from a few industry people I know who saw it (both tech and hollywood), I thought the comments from Sorkin about Tim Cook were made to try to sell tickets to a movie he knew wasn’t going to do well and last but not least, I did’t want to sit through long winded speeches and blow hardy narrative like my post.
“Steve Jobs had another disastrous weekend at the box office”
A few reasons the movie is a flop:
1. It’s not really a bio-pic of Steve Jobs, but rather Sorkin’s sordid view of Jobs. In addition, his callousness in ignoring the feelings of his subject’s friends and family is apparent, and most of us care more about that than watching the dished-up dirt.
2. In an age when a single Facebook photo can lift one to vaunted heights or land him in jail, rapid-fire and rushed-to-market tell-all films are not how most people want to see a subject portrayed. Visionary, social change maker and creator of the Apple juggernaut that Steve Jobs was, the world is not ready for another film about such a great man. It’s just too soon.
3. Though not everyone agrees (an understatement, perhaps), some of us still have trouble believing that the two top-billed stars of the film had to be a German and a Brit, respectively. Fassbender and Winslet are very fine actors, with much to commend them. And certainly, American actors also imitate characters of other nationalities. That said, Steve Jobs was not only an American entrepreneur, his story is an example of a uniquely American phenomenon. It’s a garage-to-gargantuan business success that deserved to be played by an American actor, of which there are many fine ones. But in the same way many orchestras feel they have to seek out conductors from Europe (or with European-sounding names), American film producers often look for actors from Europe. They imagine that’s the gravitas that will sell tickets. The strategy not only doesn’t always work, in this case it is transparent, and feels a bit insulting.
You say his story is an example of a uniquely American phenomenon and mentioned garage-to-gargantuan business, but that can be applied to British entrepreneurs like Richard Branson (Virgin), and to a lesser extent, Sir Alan Sugar. Both men came from poor backgrounds (poorer than Steve Jobs’ lower middle-class surburban beginnings) and started off selling things out the back of vans.
There’s nothing ‘uniquely American’ about it and I really wish Americans would stop doing this, as if America is the only country in the world.
Matt, you seem a bit overly sensitive on this point. Nonetheless, I think most will agree that America has always been seen as the land of opportunity, certainly more than Great Britain. And I don’t say this to take anything away from England. Nor is there’s no argument that success stories can be found in any country, and great achievements can come from anywhere. But honestly, there’s no comparison with the opportunities afforded by the U.S. For the sake of compromise (in an otherwise fairly silly discussion), let’s just take out the word “uniquely”, and that should do it.
In any case, my point was that portraying Steve Jobs could and should have been done by an American. I felt the same way when Sir Anthony Hopkins played the part of Richard Nixon. He did a great job, but in the end he was a notable Welshman playing a very notable American. Securing box office revenue is a primary reason for casting decisions on most big-budget films.
Its one thing if Fassbender doesn’t look like Jobs! But get over yourself with the damn, Steve Jobs should be played by an American bullshit! I’m not a fan of Apple products anymore but I am a fan of Fassbender and Winslet and I don’t think their performances in this film should be ignored from what I heard because of a bias against foreign actors who play American parts! Just like the people that didn’t see The Walk because Joseph Gordon Levitt isn’t french who is also a fantastic actor! These stupid biases are making the wrong movies box office hits and in the future may make all mainstream films completely unwatchable!
Shorehater, this is a place for opinions, not a place for admonishments. Phrases like “get over yourself” are childish. I don’t tell you to “get over” your opinions, and I don’t need to “get over” my opinions, especially if they are informed ones. Wish to disagree, then disagree. But if you can’t do it with good will, then what’s the point? If you just want to be a “hater”, then sorry, I’m not interested in playing that game.
By the way, I never said Fassbender’s or Winslet’s performances should “be ignored.” Those are your words. I simply stated my opinion that there are enough American actors to play the rolls of Americans, and I believe he should be. And whether or not you are a “fan of Apple products anymore is irrelevant.”
Branson grew up poor? It is to laugh. Perhaps in comparison to Saudi royalty, but not to the rest of us.
You are right, I was wrong about Richard Branson’s background. For some reason I always thought he was from a council estate. I must have been thinking of someone else.
I agree that its a shame more people didn’t go see the wide release. I thought it was a great movie, and very exciting. To say Steve Jobs was portrayed negatively isn’t really a fair assessment. He was definitely shown as controlling. But he had small parts of his personality that showed how much he cared also. He definitely loved his first daughter, even though early on, he didn’t want to be a parent. The movie, especially at the end, was very touching. Maybe the general public just doesn’t care about Steve Jobs, but they should. They wouldn’t be using the smart phone in their hand, otherwise (no matter if that’s Android or iPhone).
The general public is stupid and mostly goes to see shit established properties, sequels or stupid family movies like Hotel Transylvania! Whether its about Steve Jobs or not, a movie starring Fassbender and Kate Winslet, written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by the great Danny Boyle people didn’t go see, its a disgrace! I admittedly was so hyped to see the Martian that I didn’t even realize Steve Jobs was out in wide release! I am going next weekend to support good filmmaking not the creator of Apple!
The people vote with their wallets. When you make a movie that focuses on a tiny fraction of Steve’s life in an attempt to point out how terrible he was, many people are going to reject that limited viewpoint. Sure, Steve could be abrupt, callous and even mean at times, but this wasn’t his entire character. There are periods of my life that I’m not proud of, but fortunately the majority of my life I’ve tried to be a good, productive and helpful person. If you concentrated on just the times I was under stress and working on tight deadlines, I’d come off as a total jerk — but it’s not the totality of my character.
The movie seemed to be more about Sorkin and less about any of the characters. Dialogue was well written. Well acted. I just didn’t connect with whatever message they were trying to convey. It was an odd combination of being snappy but slow and boring.
Somewhat spoiler alert:
The “plot” was almost paint by numbers.
Launch setting
Visit by daughter and daughter’s mom
Visit by Scully
Visit by Woz
Cut to launch…fade to transition for the next launch.
Firstly, as I had said, one can’t expect a Genius to be CONFORMIST. Just because Steve wasn’t STEREO-TYPE you can’t denigrate & misrepresent his conduct from the prism of pre-conceived notions on what is ‘good & what is bad’. I of course love Steve & therefore absolutely DIDN’t WATCH this movie. Again I don’t trust Danny Boyle as Director or even as a someone who could UNDERSTAND WHAT AN INDIVIDUALISM is all about. For the simple reason that he is British, a Socialist, a defeatist & plainly stupid. In my mother-tongue (Marathi) there is an old age saying about the quality of a COW. It roughly runs something like this “One can’t really hope to buy a COW, that GIVES ABUNDANT QUALITY MILK, EATS VERY LITTLE, is very DOCILE, NEVER FALLS SICK, GOOD LOOKING and costs very less” :) :) …It is wrong to assume a man like STEVE WOULD BE DOCILE, GOOD LOOKING, CONFORMIST, PATIENT, NON-MERCURIAL and yet a ‘GENIUS WHO CHANGED THE WORLD’… Plainly speaking Boyle & Sorkin just couldn’t get it… :) :) Good the movie flopped..
Fincher would have worked better than Boyle did here but Sony didn’t want to pony up the $10MIL he asked for. Alas, we are left with this sorry excuse of a biopic.
Considering the Citizen Kane level material you are working with here and the talent that did sign on I’m shocked at how bad they executed. 3, 45-minute scenes – all before product launches – didn’t work for many reasons. Mainly Sorkin decided to make the movie ALL ABOUT LISA and interactions that never happened with people at product launches they never attended. Steve’s story is much more than that.
I’m trying to remember what documentary was a box office smash. Oh, that’s right. None, ever.