It’s not “good” news that Ari Aster’s “Beau is Afraid” stands to lose a lot of money. I’ve been pulling for this risk-taking film to break even, but odds are that it definitely won’t be making its money back.
Remember when Aster said, a week or so ago, that he couldn’t believe how “stupid” A24 were in greenlighting his $35 million passion project? He wasn’t kidding. This might be the biggest bomb in the indie studio’s history.
Aster got his existential and plotless 3-hour mommy issues movie made and good on him for managing to do that. It’s a damn-near miracle he pulled it off. But ‘Beau’ opened wide this weekend, in almost 1000 theaters, and stands to only make $3 million.
It doesn’t help that reviews were mixed on the film. Many critics admired the effort more than liked it. I was one of them. The first two hours are quite good, but did it really have to be 3 hours? Of course not.
As expected, Snyder's latest is being torn apart by TIFF attendees. No mercy given. The film, which had its world premiere this evening, is being called by some one of the worst movies to ever premiere at the festival.