When Joe Russo recently predicted the arthouse independent box office wouldn’t be coming back, following the damage the pandemic did to the theatrical industry, we didn’t think his prediction would come correct so soon. But when you think about it, his prediction is off. Because Ridley Scott‘s “The Last Duel,” isn’t an indie arthouse film. It’s a $100 million dollar epic from 20th Century Studios with a huge cast, but the film crashed and burned at the box office this weekend, and it’s the latest sign that perhaps only certain parts of the filmgoing audience is willing to return to theaters.
In its North American debut, “The Last Duel” finished the weekend at #5 with only $4.82 million in box office earnings. That’s an incredibly dismal number for a big-budget period drama with actors such as Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Jodie Comer, and Adam Driver. Especially when the film is directed by Ridley Scott.
So, why did a film with solid reviews, an A-list cast, and a legendary filmmaker not do better at the box office? Well, as was pointed out by THR, 80% of the people who bought tickets for “The Last Duel” are over the age of 25. That means, unlike “Venom,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” and “Halloween Kills,” Ridley Scott’s drama was appealing to an older audience that, seemingly, isn’t ready to run back to the theaters. We also saw this, to a much lesser extent of course, with “No Time to Die,” which debuted lower than expected in North America due to the older crowd not coming out to support it.
“The Last Duel” was supposed to kick off a triumphant fall for Scott. The 83-year old director has two feature films releasing in theaters, the aforementioned “The Last Duel” and “House Of Gucci” which arrives in November. “The Last Duel” has its world premiere out of competition at the Venice Film Festival in September (read our review), but apparently the cast of Adam Driver, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Jodie Comer, in a big medieval epic wasn’t a big enough draw for audiences which surely must have all studios deeply concerned at the moment.
“The Last Duel” falls in line with Scott’s previous historical epics like 2000’s “Gladiator” and 2005’s “Kingdom Of Heaven.” Based on a book of the same name by Eric Jager, the film follows the last officially recognized judicial duel fought in France. Two knights commit to trial by combat over allegations that one raped the other’s wife. Are the accusations true?
The film stars Matt Damon as Carrouges, Adam Driver as Le Gris, and Jodie Comer as Marguerite. Ben Affleck leads supporting players as a local magistrate, alongside Harriet Walder, Nathaniel Parker, Marton Csokas, Sam Hazeldine, and Michael McElhatton.
Affleck and Damon co-wrote the script with Nicole Holofcener, best known for the screenplay for 2019’s “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” Darius Wolski, who’s worked as the cinematographer on six of Scott’s films, returns as director of photography (he’s behind the camera for ‘House Of Gucci’ too).
“The Last Duel” is in theaters now, and its box office bow was so dismal, the least we can do is post some recent clips and teases to try and help 20th Century ring a few more bucks out of the thing,
