Three Guy Ritchie Movies Have Bombed At The Box Office In 13 Months
Guy Ritchie has directed everything from low-budget hits like the crime caper "Snatch" to the $1 billion monster hit that was 2019's live-action "Aladdin" remake. But the director has also been behind some pretty big misfires, most notably 2017's "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword." Ritchie has been on a tear lately though, releasing three movies in theaters over the last 13 months. Unfortunately for the filmmaker and all involved, every single one of those movies has disappointed — if not outright flopped — at the box office.
This past weekend saw the release of "The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare" in theaters in the U.S. Released by Lionsgate, the World War II film took in just $8.9 million, placing fourth on the charts behind "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" ($9.5 million), which was in its fourth weekend. That's a relatively lousy start for a movie with a $60 million production budget. Granted, Lionsgate is only on the hook for the film's domestic rights, with the film being released by Amazon on Prime Video throughout much of the rest of the world. So, in the end, the movie will probably be fine. Be that as it may, it doesn't change the fact that this is, on its own terms, a theatrical disappointment out of the gate.
It's just the latest disappointment for Ritchie, as both "Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre" and "The Covenant" also bombed last year. In the case of "Operation Fortune," the movie opened to just $3.1 million domestically and never truly recovered. Released by STX, it made only $49 million worldwide against a budget of around $50 million. STX was in the midst of various money troubles and that did the movie no favors. Be that as it may, it was a rough result for a well-reviewed, star-studded caper.
Studios begging for a mid-budget hit
Looking at "The Covenant," it opened to just $6.3 million on this same weekend last year and never recovered, topping out with just $21 million worldwide against a sizable $55 million budget. The modern war film was released by MGM and stars Jake Gyllenhaal. Again, we're talking about a movie that was met with very good reviews and an A-list movie star leading the way. The saving grace here is that MGM is now owned by Amazon, so the fact that Prime Video ends up with a crowd-pleasing war film when all's said and done helps. But the underperformance of original films like these doesn't help theaters or audiences who want non-franchise fare.
As for Ritchie's latest effort, "The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare" is based on recently declassified files of the British War Department and is inspired by true events. It tells the story of the first special forces organization formed during WWII by UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill and a small group of military officials, including "James Bond" author Ian Fleming. The top-secret unit is tasked with taking on a risky mission against the Nazis. The cast includes Henry Cavill ("The Witcher"), Alan Ritchson ("Reacher"), Henry Golding ("Crazy Rich Asians") and Eiza Gonzalez ("3 Body Problem").
Once more, we're looking at a movie that was met with solid reviews and landed an A- CinemaScore, indicating that those who did see "Warfare" really dug it. So it's not as though Ritchie is out here making bad movies that aren't making money. He's out here making well-liked movies that are being largely ignored by the moviegoing public. It's a real shame in many ways. The director isn't over-spending on $100 million movies that have no chance of making their money back. He's making upper-level, mid-budget movies with appealing ensemble casts. Yet, three times in a row with very different movies, they've failed to deliver financially.
Chasing that Wrath of Man success
Another interesting thing here is that Ritchie has become an investment for various studios in recent years, including MGM, STX, and now Lionsgate. To that end, Lionsgate is also staking the director once again with his upcoming film "Into the Grey," which stars Cavill, Gonzales, and Gyllenhaal. The studio recently showcased footage from the film at CinemaCon alongside other upcoming movies like "Borderlands," and "The Strangers: Chapter 1."
With the media landscape changing rapidly, mid-budget movies seem to be coming back in style. If they work, they can work big, like Rian Johnson's "Knives Out." If they fail, they don't fail nearly as big as a $200 million blockbuster. So, studios are investing in Ritchie and his recent ideas in the hopes of scoring a mid-budget winner, which is something he has delivered in the not-so-distant past, it's worth noting.
Just ahead of the pandemic movie theater shutdown, "The Gentlemen" made $115 million worldwide against a very reasonable $22 million budget. It has since been turned into a TV series on Netflix as well. There's also 2021's action flick "Wrath of Man," which pulled in $104 million against a $40 million budget. Mind you, the box office was very much in recovery mode in 2021, so an original movie making more than $100 million was even more impressive than it might be now. It seems these various studios were chasing similar success with Ritchie's last three films. It's just a damn shame that none of them have managed to gel with audiences on the same level.
"The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare" is now playing in theaters.