Can Emma Stone's Poor Things Turn Critical Acclaim Into Box Office Dollars?

Five years after "The Favourite" became a box office hit and an Oscar-winning smash, director Yorgos Lanthimos is back with another awards season hopeful in the form of "Poor Things." Featuring an A-list cast that reunited him with Emma Stone, this is the kind of project that would have seemed like a surefire winner in pre-pandemic times. But can this movie manage to turn praise from critics into actual box office dollars? That is, indeed, the big question for Disney right now, with "Poor Things" being released through the company's Searchlight Pictures banner.

"The Favourite" made a hair shy of $96 million worldwide against a budget of $15 million. It also earned a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars; Lanthimos was nominated for Best Director, and Olivia Colman won Best Actress in a legitimate surprise. It was a huge, well-rounded hit. As a result, Lanthimos was cut a much larger check for "Poor Things," which has a budget in the $35 million range. In the pandemic era, justifying a budget of that size for a movie aimed squarely at adult audiences — a movie that doesn't exactly scream commercial hit, mind you — is a tough ask.

Searchlight is doing a platform release for "Poor Things" beginning on December 8, with the film opening on just nine screens. Similar to "Everything Everywhere All at Once," the idea is to increase the screens week by week and build buzz as the release expands, which will hopefully lead to an increase in ticket sales as word of mouth grows. For a movie like this, the strategy offers a more likely path to success than releasing it on 1,000 screens or more on opening weekend and merely hoping for the best. "The Favourite" debuted on just four screens back in 2018, opening to $422,000 before expanding wide over the next few months.

Based on the novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray, "Poor Things" is a unique take on "Frankenstein" that tells the tale of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Bella is eager to learn and runs away with a slick lawyer named Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), and they head off on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella finds purpose in standing for equality and liberation.

"Poor Things" has been met with straight-up raves from critics, beginning with its Golden Lion win at this year's Venice International Film Festival. The film currently carries a 92% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which can absolutely help generate some buzz in the early days. But are audiences going to agree with critics here? That's the key. "Everything Everywhere All at Once" managed to become the little movie that could, making $143 million worldwide and winning Best Picture because audiences were aligned with critics and the buzz built authentically. That's what Disney is undoubtedly hoping for here.

If audiences agree with the critical consensus (read our review here), then "Poor Things" could have long legs well into the new year. As far as recent films that might offer hope, we can look at Wes Anderson's "Asteroid City," which made $53 million worldwide by going the platform release route. With a $35 million budget, Disney would need "Poor Things" to make quite a bit more for it to profit purely in theaters. That said, if it goes on to win some major awards — such as Stone winning Best Actress, for example — Disney would find value in it beyond the box office and would only need the movie to make enough to not be a financial disaster. Disney doesn't want another "Nightmare Alley" situation ($39 million worldwide/$60 million budget). Granted, that was when the pandemic was a much larger factor.

For a worst-case scenario we can probably look at something like "Bottoms." Emma Seligman's acclaimed comedy got off to a great start at the box office but then fizzled out quickly, topping out at just $12 million worldwide. A finish anywhere in that neighborhood would be a disaster for "Poor Things," even if we factor in VOD and streaming value. If the film does "Asteroid City" numbers, Disney could easily count on other revenue streams to make up the difference once awards season buzz/interest kicks in.

Fortunately for Searchlight and Lanthimos, they have a pretty clear runway for a couple of weeks. On opening weekend, there is only relatively minor competition from films like "The Boy and the Heron," NEON's "Eileen," and horror film "The Cello." These are also specialty programming. The following weekend sees the release of "Wonka," which could be a big hit, but still leaves room for some counter-programming. And let us not forget that the first chunk of 2024 is pretty bare thanks to the long duration of the Screen Actors Guild strike and the Writers Guild of America Strike. There is a path to success here.

Tony McNamara ("Cruella") penned the screenplay for "Poor Things." The cast also includes Ramy Youssef ("Ramy"), Christopher Abbott ("Catch-22"), Suzy Bemba ("Homecoming"), Jerrod Carmichael ("The Carmichael Show"), Kathryn Hunter ("Andor"), Vicki Pepperdine ("Getting On"), Margaret Qualley ("Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"), and Hanna Schygulla ("The Edge of Heaven").

"Poor Things" hits theaters on December 8, 2023.