Robert De Niro's New Crime Movie Just Flopped At The Box Office

It was another bleak weekend at the box office, and not even a couple of cinematic legends could help lift the tide. Robert De Niro may be one of the greatest actors ever, but he's no longer an automatic "butts in seats" movie star. Audience turnout is very much dependent on the movie he's in. So, even though he's playing dual roles in director Barry Levinson's "The Alto Knights," the mob drama unfolding on screen wasn't interesting enough for that De Niro vs. De Niro hook to matter all that much.

Hailing from Warner Bros., "The Alto Knights" opened to just $3.1 million domestically this past weekend, landing at number six on the charts and making for a disastrous start. The movie reportedly carries a $50 million production budget before marketing costs and mob movies tend to have limited appeal overseas, so things aren't looking good as far as this one's long-term prospects are concerned. This can't even fully be blamed on competition, either, as Disney's live-action "Snow White" majorly disappointed with a $43 million debut.

Levinson's latest centers on two of New York's most notorious organized crime bosses, Frank Costello (De Niro) and Vito Genovese (De Niro), who are both vying for control of the city's streets. Though they were once best friends, jealousy and betrayal sets them up on a collision course that will ultimately reshape the American mafia.

So, what went wrong here? Well, for starters, in the current climate, it's tough to get audiences out for a non-franchise movie no matter what the case. But the movies that tend to break through and do meaningful business are either A) made for such a low budget that the bar for success is lowered greatly, or B) become such a critical and audience favorite that word of mouth carries the weight. Neither of those things happened here.

De Niro and Levinson's team-up has largely been panned by critics, with audiences mostly shrugging it off as well. /Film's Chris Evangelista gave "The Alto Knights" a 5 out of 10 review, calling it "a mob movie that makes mob life look absolutely boring." Reviews like that aren't exactly going to help get prospective ticket buyers off the couch. This is, at best, going to be a "wait and stream" movie for the vast majority of people.

This unimpressive opening adds to what is shaping up to be a rough year for Warner Bros. at the box office in 2025. The studio has already shouldered the disappointment of "Mickey 17," which is expected to lose as much as $80 million. That film had a $118 million budget and has only made $100 million worldwide so far after three weekends of release. And overall, ticket sales are slumping this year compared to this same point in 2024, with totals trailing well behind 2023. Things are currently headed in the wrong direction, and misfires like this certainly don't help. Here's hoping for a very robust summer.

I spoke about the film's box office performance (and that of several other new films) on today's episode of the /Film Daily podcast, which you can listen to below:

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"The Alto Knights" is in theaters now.