The Musical Biopic Better Man has lost nearly $100 million dollars in production costs.
The film about English Singer-Songwriter Robbie Williams released on December 26, 2024 was critically acclaimed, but was a box office failure.
On a budget of 114 million dollars, it has only made $14 million worldwide.
But why would a movie that is so acclaimed do so terribly in the box office?
There are a few reasons why this is.
One of the most prominent reasons the movie has performed so badly is likely that he was depicted in the movie as a CGI monkey.
He was likely depicted as a CGI monkey as a lazy attempt to make American audiences want to go see the movie.
This only backfired though, and made audiences not want to see the movie.
Upon seeing the trailer to the movie, this aspect left audiences both confused and made them see the movie as a joke.
When users on TikTok first saw previews of the movie, they thought it was some sort of sequel to “Planet of the Apes.”
Another reason for its failure is because of the movie’s marketing.
The main trailer to the movie describes Williams as “One of the biggest Pop-stars in the world,¨ which is evidently true, but there is one big problem: nobody in the United States knows who he is.
This could also play into why the movie has been doing so terribly.
Generally, major motion pictures make anywhere from 40 to 60% of their revenue stream in the United States alone.
Other biopics about British pop-stars have performed very well, like the movies Rocketman and Bohemian Rhapsody about British Singer Songwriter Elton John and British Rock Band Queen.
Most of their profits came from America, with Rocketman making 195.2 million dollars worldwide, with 96.4 million of those being from the United States alone, and Bohemian Rhapsody making 903.6 million dollars worldwide and having a revenue stream of 216 million in the U.S. alone.
The one big difference between the two movies and Better Man though, is that people in the U.S. actually know who these people are.
Another reason for the movie’s failure may be that it could be Robbie Williams’ last-ditch effort to make it in the United States.
Williams has had numerous attempts to make it in the U.S. but never quite succeeded, with his biggest song ever, “Angels,” only making it to number 53 on US Billboard Top 100.
Despite these attempts, he has never made a serious impact on American society. He has also had several tours in the but none of them really made him well known in the U.S. like they did with other British artists. This was probably his final attempt to make it big in the U.S. and it’s safe to say that he failed miserably.
