BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE

Bad Times at the El Royale

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  [Total: 58 Average: 3.6]
  Genre(s): Thriller

• Directed By: Drew Goddard
• Written By: Drew Goddard
• Release Date: October 12, 2018
• Domestic Distributor: FOX
• Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson
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Box Office Info:

In March 2017, Drew Goddard sold his Bad Times at the El Royale spec script to FOX and then landed a fantastic large ensemble cast which agreed to cut their salaries to keep the budget down, so Goddard would have more creative freedom.  The budget for Bad Times at the El Royale was $32 million and most of the production was moved to Vancouver to take advantage of a 28% tax rebate.  FOX majority financed the picture and TSG Entertainment invested a minority share, which contributes coin into most of the studio’s slate of movies.

Bad Times at the El Royale was first dated for October 5, 2018 and then bumped back one week to keep it away from Venom and A Star Is Born.  FOX was bullish on the marketing and gave Bad Times an expensive P&A blitz.  $24.46M was spent on nationwide TV ads (as per iSpotTV) and after other traditional means of advertising, the domestic P&A expenses were north of $35M.

Despite the exposure, Bad Times at the El Royale was tracking soft and none of the cast are reliably bankable.  The complaint that adult movies with mid-range budgets like this no longer get made because that core audience never shows up to see them, was sadly yet again substantiated here.

Bad Times landed lukewarm reviews and bowed against First Man and Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween.  Tracking was pointing to an opening near $12M, but it tanked with $7,132,647 — placing #7 for the weekend led by Venom.  Bad Times sank 52.1% the following frame to $3,420,067 and plummeted 60.4% to $1,354,507 in its third session and then promptly lost most of its theater count.  The domestic run closed with a dreadful $17,839,115.

Bad Times at the El Royale did abysmal business overseas and the reported cume was just $14M.  The worldwide total was $31.8M.  FOX would see returned about $17.4M after theaters take their percentage of the gross — leaving tens of millions worth of P&A expenses in the red and the budget untouched by the theatrical receipts.