EON's 'The Rhythm Section' (2020)

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  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,183
    I'll be seeing it tomorrow.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited January 2020 Posts: 15,717
    Rhythm Section is on its way to make one of the worse opening weekends of all-time at the US box office. Only 13 films have opened on at least 3000 screens and debuted with less than $6 million. It would also have the 5th biggest budget amongst these flops, only behind Missing Link ($100 million), Cats ($90 million), Meet Dave ($60 million) and Imagine That ($55 million).
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,480
    So much DOOM!!! :)

    Anyway, I do want to hear the opinion of people here when they actually see the film. I will see it as soon as I can.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited January 2020 Posts: 15,717
    So much DOOM!!! :)
    And before I get attacked: I am excited to watch The Rhythm Section. But we have to face reality that EON should have kept their mouth shut instead of hyping up sequels. Those are dead in the water now. I now hope that this film will be a one-off badass addition to the revenge action flick genre.

    This film flopping badly means I may not be able to watch it in theaters. It has no release date in my country, and losing this much money likely means the studio will have cold feet to release it internationally. So please spare me such 'DOOM!!!' comments when I am precisely angry at this movie flopping as I wanted to see it in theaters.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,978
    While I have an interest in spy movies, I don't know... this one won't get me rushing off to my local VUE, begging them to take my money. I'll wait for the DVD.
  • Red_SnowRed_Snow Australia
    Posts: 2,538
    DoctorNo wrote: »
    So it’s seems like EON tried to do the right thing by having the book author write the screenplay, but that clearly doesn’t always work... The important thing with films is that they’re well written and have authorship... the new Star Wars trilogy being an example of a committee mess. So why I would normally criticize EON for again producing something mediocre, at least there was an attempt to make it true to the source material.

    Here is the author speaking on the writing process. It would seem that some outside perspective was needed on the script.

    What was your writing schedule when you wrote the novel and screenplay of The Rhythm Section?

    I wrote The Rhythm Section in 12 weeks and it required no rewrites and very little editing. That is very rare! When writing the screenplay, there is no writing schedule: the Producers and I would agree what the script (or subsequent changes) should look like, then I’d ask them when they wanted it and they’d say, “yesterday”.
  • Posts: 1,491
    Red_Snow wrote: »
    DoctorNo wrote: »
    So it’s seems like EON tried to do the right thing by having the book author write the screenplay, but that clearly doesn’t always work... The important thing with films is that they’re well written and have authorship... the new Star Wars trilogy being an example of a committee mess. So why I would normally criticize EON for again producing something mediocre, at least there was an attempt to make it true to the source material.

    Here is the author speaking on the writing process. It would seem that some outside perspective was needed on the script.

    What was your writing schedule when you wrote the novel and screenplay of The Rhythm Section?

    I wrote The Rhythm Section in 12 weeks and it required no rewrites and very little editing. That is very rare! When writing the screenplay, there is no writing schedule: the Producers and I would agree what the script (or subsequent changes) should look like, then I’d ask them when they wanted it and they’d say, “yesterday”.

    Unfortunately, the finished film is not getting particularly strong reviews, just ok notices. Perhaps some more draft were in order???
  • TripAcesTripAces Universal Exports
    Posts: 4,585
    In retrospect, TRS is the exact type of film that warranted a release through Netflix. It would have gained a greater audience.
  • Red_SnowRed_Snow Australia
    Posts: 2,538
    ‘Gretel & Hansel’ Finds $475K; ‘The Rhythm Section’ Offbeat With $235K – Thursday Night Previews
    https://deadline.com/2020/01/gretel-hansel-finds-475k-the-rhythm-section-offbeat-with-235k-thursday-night-previews-1202847821/

    Rhythm Section, which cost $50M before P&A, is expected to die according to tracking with a single digits gross over 3-days at 3,049 locations.

    Last night off 7PM shows, Rhythm Section made $235K from 2,256 theaters. Paramount shelled out $30M for domestic rights, and most foreign territories except for China and Germany.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited January 2020 Posts: 15,717
    Red_Snow wrote: »
    ‘Gretel & Hansel’ Finds $475K; ‘The Rhythm Section’ Offbeat With $235K – Thursday Night Previews
    https://deadline.com/2020/01/gretel-hansel-finds-475k-the-rhythm-section-offbeat-with-235k-thursday-night-previews-1202847821/

    Rhythm Section, which cost $50M before P&A, is expected to die according to tracking with a single digits gross over 3-days at 3,049 locations.

    Last night off 7PM shows, Rhythm Section made $235K from 2,256 theaters. Paramount shelled out $30M for domestic rights, and most foreign territories except for China and Germany.

    Such a low Thursday preview gross means the film will struggle to earn $10 million total at the US box office. Rhythm Section could set the record for the worst wide opening of all time. Only 2 films has opened below $4 million from 3000+ screens, this appears to be the third. And it is doing this with more than 3 times the budget of nearly any film that has ever opened that badly. I guess this means I won't be able to see it in theaters, the film is literally bleeding money, so most likely it will go straight to Blu-Ray or Netflix in most foreign territories.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,394
    Strange isn’t it? It’s not had the worst reviews I’ve ever seen, and the subject matter isn’t unappealing to most. I guess it just doesn’t interest folk enough and hasn’t been promoted enough.
  • TripAcesTripAces Universal Exports
    Posts: 4,585
    mtm wrote: »
    Strange isn’t it? It’s not had the worst reviews I’ve ever seen, and the subject matter isn’t unappealing to most. I guess it just doesn’t interest folk enough and hasn’t been promoted enough.

    Timing is everything.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,394
    Yes I guess so. I think they’ve somehow managed to create the perfect storm of lots of elements just not quite working, none of which are terrible on their own but all adding up to make an absolute disaster.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    edited January 2020 Posts: 8,183
    I mean the marketing was practically nonexistent aside from an obligatory trailer. If they were hoping to do better than it turned out then they're frankly brain dead.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,480
    Timing and especially promotion matters a great deal, yes.
  • Posts: 2,165
    I’ve just see it at the cinema,

    It was alright. Quite a downbeat film in the first half, perked up a bit in the second half.

    Cast were decent, especially Blake Lively in the lead role.

    Didnt like the direction, too Bourne-esque shakycam and lots of close ups. There was one decent scene - a “one shot” car chase from inside the car, but again due to the shaky cam, couldnt really follow what was going on.

    Music was odd too. The original score was decent but interrupted by some really weird song placement.

    Story was a bit convoluted. Just about managed to follow it. A slight (?) twist ending, but again you can see coming a mile off.

    Bang on average really. A little disappointing but its not bad, not great, just a bit meh really.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited February 2020 Posts: 15,717
    The Rhythm Section is now officially a disaster. Deadline is reporting that the film is now struggling to hit $3 million for the weekend. This gives it the worst opening of all time, almost $500,000 below the current record. And on over 3000 screens that means a per-theatre-average of about $1,000. This film is flopping on massive proportions.

    Rhythm Section is now lucky if it grosses $10 million world wide on a $50 million budget, which deadline reports doesn’t include $20 million in marketing. This film is losing $60 million. Catastrophic.
  • Posts: 11,425
    mtm wrote: »
    Strange isn’t it? It’s not had the worst reviews I’ve ever seen, and the subject matter isn’t unappealing to most. I guess it just doesn’t interest folk enough and hasn’t been promoted enough.

    I'd seen some posters on the London Underground and they gave no idea what the film was about. I didn't know it was a spy / action movie until reading it on here.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited February 2020 Posts: 15,717
    Lowest opening week-end of all time, one of the lowest grossing movies of all time, one of the biggest flops of all time & one of the least profitable movies of all time.

    I guess it's time to wonder how did this film get made? Who green-lighted this? Who gave it a $50 million budget? Why did they dump it on the Super-Bowl weekend? Why release a 2nd one-minute long trailer a week before release?

    This is very sad as I wanted to check it out, now I am wondering if I'll even get a chance to watch it. Will it be dumped on Netflix for foreign countries? Will it even get a DVD/Blu-Ray release outside of the US/UK given the audience for this is basically non-existent and the colossal amount of money it has already lost?
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,183
    Getafix wrote: »
    mtm wrote: »
    Strange isn’t it? It’s not had the worst reviews I’ve ever seen, and the subject matter isn’t unappealing to most. I guess it just doesn’t interest folk enough and hasn’t been promoted enough.

    I'd seen some posters on the London Underground and they gave no idea what the film was about. I didn't know it was a spy / action movie until reading it on here.

    I kept wondering what the hell the title was referring to, as it’s clear Blake Lively is not playing a musician that turns out to be a spy. Wasn’t until that last trailer thrown out pretty late explained it.
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,216
    Lowest opening week-end of all time, one of the lowest grossing movies of all time, one of the biggest flops of all time & one of the least profitable movies of all time.

    It is quite bizarre when you put it into perspective, especially considering that Lively is fairly popular and the film isn't terrible by any means. I wonder where it went wrong? I don't think the issue was with the greenlighting or the fact that there's no audience for it. I would certainly say there probably is an audience for it, but unfortunately they're completely unaware of the film's existence. So strange in this day and age.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,183
    Again, abysmal marketing.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited February 2020 Posts: 15,717
    The first box office tracking (on December 6th) for The Rhythm Section projected an opening of $12 million, with a life-time gross of $38 million.

    It did not increase or decrease until last week (January 24th), when its projections decreased to a $10 million opening and a life-time gross of $30 million.

    Then, the final week-end projections arrived, and it dropped to an opening ranging from $6 million opening (according to Box Office Pro) to $5 million (according to Box Office Mojo).

    Now, with the Thursday night previews and early Friday numbers available, its opening dropped to $3.1 million (according to Deadline), and could go as low at $2.5 million (according to Box Office Pro). Its total life-time gross at the box office will be less than half of its original projected opening weekend. Those are horrendously bad numbers.

    This film is the text-book definition of a disaster at the box office.
  • Posts: 5,767
    Lowest opening week-end of all time, one of the lowest grossing movies of all time, one of the biggest flops of all time & one of the least profitable movies of all time.

    I guess it's time to wonder how did this film get made? Who green-lighted this? Who gave it a $50 million budget? Why did they dump it on the Super-Bowl weekend? Why release a 2nd one-minute long trailer a week before release?

    This is very sad as I wanted to check it out, now I am wondering if I'll even get a chance to watch it. Will it be dumped on Netflix for foreign countries? Will it even get a DVD/Blu-Ray release outside of the US/UK given the audience for this is basically non-existent and the colossal amount of money it has already lost?
    Why do you wonder how this film got made? According to those who saw it, it doesn´t seem THAT bad. There are lots of films which are not THAT bad but still get shown, if not in cinemas then on Netflix et al. That the marketing campaign wasn´t efficient doesn´t make it necessarily a bad film. It will show up somewhere in time.

  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,183
    I’m sure EON and Paramount saw potential in the project, but perhaps the results were so unimpressive (as opposed to flat out terrible) that Paramount didn’t have any confidence in it and decided to just dump it on a barren weekend in January. Of course nobody can actually comment on that, so the PR has no choice but to spin anything regarding its release date as neutrally and positively as possible.

    Once the smoke clears over time we’ll probably find out what lead up to its box office folly. Likely not by EON, but perhaps the director and writer.
  • 00Agent00Agent Any man who drinks Dom Perignon '52 can't be all bad.
    Posts: 5,185
    I wonder if the timing was so off because people associated this with movies like Charlies Angels and other recent gender swapped action films. "By the producers of James Bond" might not have helped as a tagline here at all.

    Personally i didn't. But i don't know what the mayority thought. Or at least the group of people that even knew this film existed.

    It's a bummer cause i wanted this to be successful. Well, at least Barbara won't run out of money, not after NTTD comes out.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    edited February 2020 Posts: 8,183
    00Agent wrote: »
    I wonder if the timing was so off because people associated this with movies like Charlies Angels and other recent gender swapped action films.

    That’s assuming enough people were even aware of this film at all.

    I don’t think people have that much of an issue with female action films. All STAR WARS movies that had female leads (except SOLO, which flopped), WONDER WOMAN, ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL, CAPTAIN MARVEL all did pretty solid business but they also had stronger marketing to back them. In this case it just looks like Paramount has set up THE RHYTHM SECTION to fail.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited February 2020 Posts: 15,717
    boldfinger wrote: »
    Lowest opening week-end of all time, one of the lowest grossing movies of all time, one of the biggest flops of all time & one of the least profitable movies of all time.

    I guess it's time to wonder how did this film get made? Who green-lighted this? Who gave it a $50 million budget? Why did they dump it on the Super-Bowl weekend? Why release a 2nd one-minute long trailer a week before release?

    This is very sad as I wanted to check it out, now I am wondering if I'll even get a chance to watch it. Will it be dumped on Netflix for foreign countries? Will it even get a DVD/Blu-Ray release outside of the US/UK given the audience for this is basically non-existent and the colossal amount of money it has already lost?
    Why do you wonder how this film got made? According to those who saw it, it doesn´t seem THAT bad. There are lots of films which are not THAT bad but still get shown, if not in cinemas then on Netflix et al. That the marketing campaign wasn´t efficient doesn´t make it necessarily a bad film. It will show up somewhere in time.

    I never said it was a bad film, I'm actually hoping I can see it somewhere at one point. A big screen release seems impossible at this point, so perhaps it can drop on Netflix or straight to Blu-Ray in my country. I'm just trying to understand how this film flopped so badly. And why it received such a wide-release when it was obvious for the past couple weeks that the film would bomb hard at the box office.
  • Posts: 5,767
    00Agent wrote: »
    I wonder if the timing was so off because people associated this with movies like Charlies Angels and other recent gender swapped action films.

    That’s assuming enough people were even aware of this film at all.

    I don’t think people have that much of an issue with female action films. All STAR WARS movies that had female leads (except SOLO, which flopped), WONDER WOMAN, ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL, CAPTAIN MARVEL all did pretty solid business but they also had stronger marketing to back them. In this case it just looks like Paramount has set up THE RHYTHM SECTION to fail.
    Yes. That is an interesting comparison. While I´d say WW was a legitimate blockbuster, IMO Cpt M was a very mediocre film, and Alita even less accomplished. From what I read, TRS seems not worse than CM and A:BA. So perhaps with the right amount of marketing it would have been fairly possible to sell it way beyond its quality. I doubt it´s worse than The Bourne Legacy, and that didn´t exactly crash, did it?

  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,183
    EON might have secured a contract that obligated Paramount to give it a major wide release, but might not have had a say in the marketing.
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