Is Fly Me To The Moon A Hit Or A Flop? Apple Complicates Matters At The Box Office

It was a busy weekend at the box office, even though, if one were to look at the July 12 frame on the calendar at the beginning of the year, it wouldn't have seemed like it. "Despicable Me 4" was in its second weekend, one in which it topped the charts again and helped push the "Minions" franchise past $5 billion worldwide. Neon's horror movie "Longlegs" arrived and absolutely obliterated expectations with a $22.6 million opening, a record for the studio. On paper, it didn't seem like it would amount to much, but everything clicked. However, Apple and Sony's "Fly Me to the Moon" is the big question mark as the big budget, '60s-set rom-com had a somewhat soft debut. Yet, it's one of those situations where the opening weekend alone doesn't tell the whole story.

Directed by Greg Berlanti, "Fly Me to the Moon" opened to a disappointing $10 million domestically, placing at number five on the charts behind "A Quiet Place: Day One" ($11.8 million), which was in its third weekend. The film also pulled in $9 million overseas, giving it a $19 million global start. At first glance, that makes it seem like a flop, as the film was acquired by Apple for $100 million. It was a flashy package, one that stars Scarlett Johansson ("Black Widow") and Channing Tatum ("Magic Mike"). Two big stars in a big romantic comedy with an intriguing, retro premise: Under any other circumstances, we'd be right to call this a flop. But the Apple of it all makes it complicated.

Not only is Apple Studios ultimately in this to bring a flashy movie to Apple TV+ eventually, we're also talking about a company with a market cap of $3.6 trillion, give or take. As a result, that $100 million price tag is a drop in the bucket — if that. We're talking about fractions of a percent of the company's overall cash flow.

After we factor in the movie's overall box office, eventual VOD run, and the value it will bring to Apple TV+, it will come closer to breaking even. Does a company of this size really care all that much about, say, $20 million in losses in the short term? Maybe not. We need look no further than Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon" or Ridley Scott's "Napoleon," both of which were $200 million movies that didn't come close to breaking even. Yet, they brought a certain level of prestige and credibility to Apple Studios. If Apple wants to be a serious player in the streaming game, it might be worth losing money for a bit. The company can handle it rather easily. For studios such as Paramount or Universal? It's harder to stomach such losses.

"Fly Me to the Moon" takes place during the Apollo 11 moon landing and centers on marketing expert Kelly Jones (Johansson), who is brought in to fix NASA's public image. She butts up against launch director Cole Davis (Tatum) as they work together to stage a fake moon landing as backup in case the mission fails. 

Sony is distributing the film, and it's a win-win for them. They get a distribution fee and get to attach their name to a well-reviewed movie with two huge stars. Apple is assuming all of the financial risk. Theaters, meanwhile, get a new movie that is likely to have strong word-of-mouth to help fill auditoriums. For the industry as a whole, Apple's continued involvement in projects like this is a huge win. In the case of something like the $200 million "Argylle" from earlier this year, it doesn't always pan out. But for the time being, Apple seems content to play the price to stay in the game. For as long as that's true, it's a good thing. It complicates the math for sure, but it's a net positive for moviegoers.

"Fly Me to the Moon" is in theaters now.