Box office numbers can make or break careers and franchises. While some films, such as Frozen and The Avengers, take in excess of over one billion dollars at the box office, there are many more films that are not profitable. With advertising and splitting revenues with theaters, films are expected to make considerably more than the cost of production. Even after DVD sales and television/streaming leasing fees are collected, a dreadful performance at the box office can lose big for the studios.
There are times when predicting failure is not difficult. Movies such as Mortdecai can be relatively easy to forecast box office disaster. The movie was marketed almost entirely by focusing on a silly mustache. Billboards with four well-known actors sporting Johnny Depp’s mustache were plastered all over Los Angeles. The marketing strategy provided no insight as to what the movie was about, but did confirm that the budget would not be inexpensive. When you see a billboard with Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow. Ewan McGregor, and Olivia Munn you can be fairly sure we are not dealing with a budget similar to entries from the Paranormal Activity franchise.
According to boxofficemojo.com, in 2009, the first Paranormal Activity was made for $15,000 while grossing $193 million worldwide. The sequels have been produced with budgets ranging from three to five million dollars, while making well over 100 million dollars worldwide, with the exception of Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, which was still a smashing financial success (90 million worldwide on a 5 million dollar budget).
High profile Hollywood actors are not known for working cheap, so it was clear that Mortdecai would have to generate considerable ticket sales to be successful. Judging by the preliminary marketing and the intended Pink Panther tone, it was hard to ever see Mortdecai generating 150-200 million dollars worldwide. Additionally, with popular websites such as Boxofficemojo and Rottentomatoes (which takes reviews from many critics to come up with an overall rating) it is not difficult to see which movies are generating money and positive reviews.
Research does not guarantee success, but just what information was Lionsgate basing their decision to release Mortdecai on? One would think the large production companies have even more information than the general public. But a simple Google search of Johnny Depp’s recent movies would show his presence alone is certainly not a guarantee of box office success. His last few movies, including the embarrassing low grossing Lone Ranger (Disney) show moviegoers will need more than Depp donning silly costumes and accents in order to part with their hard earned dollars. Surely Lionsgate should have even more insight on these trends; perhaps some data the rest of us are not privy to. Somewhere, something must have told them to make a comedy that utilized comedy appealing to a generation that is aging rapidly. In the age of viral videos, Youtube, and financially successful comedies pushing the envelope, just why exactly were they willing to spend at least $60 million dollars on a movie whose target audience is probably frequenting theaters less and less. I am 31 and I have never met a fan or an enemy of the original Pink Panther films in my age bracket.
The closest comparisons to Mortdecai comes from the Steve Martin remakes of The Pink Panther. That first movie, released in 2006 received poor reviews (22% on Rottentomatoes.com) and yielded about $158 million worldwide. Having been made for $80 million, it was not quite the colossal failure that Mortdecai is shaping up to be, but was not considered a huge success. It is unclear if after its DVD sales (approx. $23 million) and streaming royalties, if the movie is considered profitable. In 2009, the film’s sequel, Pink Panther 2 was released on a $70 million dollar budget while only grossing $75 million.
The recent Pink Panther films at least had a built in audience and a very familiar theme song. Several years after the Pink Panther stalled, and the Pink Panther 2 bombed, Mortdecai was made without having much, if any, audience familiarity (though the character apparently appeared in a series of obscure British novels in the 1970s). This means the fans of the original Pink Panther (released in 1963) and the Peter Sellers portrayal of Inspector Clouseau are six years older than the most recent movie of the genre. Getting elderly fans out to the theaters is not necessarily a winning strategy, especially as RedBox, Netflix, and so many others offer both cheaper and far more convenient ways to view films.
It seems audiences did stay home. According to Boxofficemojo.com, Mortdecai only made $12,044,000 (worldwide) in its first seven days in theaters. So far, Lionsgate has not even provided the box office numbers beyond its first seven days. Mortdecai is not the only recent film to perform this poorly. Blackhat and Strange Magic have produced similar numbers to Mortdecai. However, Mortdecai’s target audience made the least sense and was far more annoying in its marketing. From the first time I saw the mustaches, or I should say posters for this movie, I was very much hoping to shave this Mortdecai from my memory.
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