When I compared Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon” to Michael Cimino’s “Heaven’s Gate” last month, I was being very serious. This was a major gamble for Paramount and thank the cinematic heavens they had “Top Gun: Maverick” make $1.7 billion this year because otherwise they’d be in a slightly disastrous situation.
According to Deadline’s financial sources, the bleeding Paramount will take from “Babylon” bombing can only be described as brutal. Yes, the Robbie-Pitt epic doesn’t start its overseas rollout until mid-January, but the only way for it to actually break even is if it makes $250 million — which will be impossible.
“Babylon” made $3.4 million this past weekend and Deadline claims the film will be lucky if it even hits $20 million overall. We’re looking at potential losses of over $200 million here. The pic has however notched five Golden Globe nominations, including Best Picture Musical or Comedy, and might get a few Oscar nominations come next month, but that won’t help .
Those estimated losses of $200 million will be up there with the very worst ever. “John Carter” ($200 million), “The Lone Ranger” ($190 million), “Mortal Engines” ($184 million). The only difference between those and Chazelle’s epic is that “Babylon” is actually a good movie.
At this point, Oscar voters voting for “Babylon” will be doing so out of pity rather than for its actual qualities.