Wes Anderson Still A Quiet Box Office Hero As Asteroid City Passes $50 Million
Even though the movie hasn't been in the conversation in a meaningful way for weeks now, Wes Anderson's "Asteroid City" has managed to cross a box office milestone. Thanks to the Labor Day weekend returns, the filmmaker's latest has finally crossed the $50 million mark globally. While it may not be a fortune by Hollywood standards, it's good enough to cement Anderson as a man carving a path for those who wish to see more original films produced in the current landscape. Quietly, this is something Anderson has done for a long time.
Per The Numbers, "Asteroid City" pulled in just shy of $43,000 over Labor Day weekend domestically, which was just enough to put it over the top. It now sits at $28.1 million domestically to go with $22.4 million internationally for a grand total of $50.5 million. Against a $25 million budget and seemingly modest marketing budget, that's a win for Focus Features. Sure, it's probably not going to turn a profit in its theatrical run alone, but the movie has already been on VOD for weeks now pulling in money that way. Between the Blu-ray release and other revenue streams, Anderson's latest will turn a profit. This is just how he does it.
The other good news here is that the movie just opened in Japan and is still due to release in Italy on September 14, 2023, so that box office total will still grow a bit between now and the end of its theatrical run. What's more, if the film can somehow end up in the awards season conversation, there may be some sort of re-release down the line to help juice its prospects. Even without a theatrical re-release, awards season love would certainly goose the VOD numbers.
Wes Anderson continues to do it his way
Anderson's star-studded sci-fi flick opened in mid-June and, following a very successful limited release, it ended up giving the filmmaker the biggest opening weekend of his entire career up to this point to the tune of $9 million. Anderson, for what it's worth, has never been a blockbuster guy. His biggest movie ever remains "The Grand Budapest Hotel" ($174.5 million worldwide/$25 million budget) but that was absolutely an outlier. Largely, Anderson makes mid-budget movies that do fine in theaters but go on to have a long life that, ultimately, makes them profitable. It's the benefit of making movies cheaply. The burden of gigantic ticket sales is eased.
Granted, Anderson is a guy actors love to work with, which absolutely helps. It's why he's able to get people like Jeff Goldblum to show up and take on a tiny role in a movie like this. He could make more money elsewhere, sure, but working with a respected filmmaker like this means something to actors. That can't be the case for every director trying to make an original film, but Anderson carved his path from "Bottle Rocket" to "Isle of Dogs" his way, rarely overextending himself, with perhaps only "Fantastic Mr. Fox" ($58 million box office/$40 million budget) standing out as a flop. But even that movie has gone on to find a big audience over the years.
Perhaps the greatest evidence that Anderson is a filmmaker this business needs is 2021's "The French Dispatch." Another $25 million movie released when the pandemic was a much larger issue for moviegoers, it still managed to pull in $46.3 million worldwide. Again, with VOD, streaming rights, and other revenue streams, it surely made its money back. Anderson keeps it small, maintains a certain quality, and keeps winning.
"Asteroid City" is in theaters and on VOD and Blu-ray now.