‘Alto Knights’ Bombs With $3M Opening Weekend — $50M Budget

UPDATE: ‘Alto Knights’ bombed with $3.2M at the domestic box office, one of the worst-ever starts for a big studio release. Overseas, it was worse — the film earned $1.8M for a bleak worldwide tally of $5.1 million.

Critics rebuked the film, which earned a poor 37% on Rotten Tomatoes and a so-so “B” grade on CinemaScore. On IMDb, the score is 5.9/10. Still, those mixed scores don’t bode well for word-of-mouth which would have been the only way to semi-salvage this disaster in the making.

EARLIER: The news keeps getting worse for Warner Bros. who are releasing Barry Levinson’s “The Alto Knights” in an estimated 2800+ locations on Friday. Where’s the marketing been on this one?

Variety is reporting that the Robert De Niro starring R-rated mob drama is “shaping up to be one of the year’s biggest flops.” It’s aiming for a $2M domestic debut. The review embargo is supposed to lift today at noon ET.

Levinson somehow got $50M to shoot ‘Alto Knights.’ The film has been described as David Zaslav’s “pet project” — the Warner head personally greenlit the film and supported Levinson in this endeavor.

The film revolves around Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, two Italian-American crime bosses of the 20th century. In 1957, Genovese attempted to assassinate Costello but failed, then things got out of hand. De Niro plays both lead roles. Why? We’re not entirely sure.

Levinson hasn’t directed a great theatrical film since 1997’s “Wag the Dog.” I will however vouch for a few of his HBO movies, especially 2010’s “You Don’t Know Jack,” and maybe it would have been best for him to stick to that format.

This is being touted as Levinson’s return to “big and bold studio filmmaking.” Nicholas Pileggi, who wrote “Wiseguy,” the 1985 book that was the basis for “Goodfellas,” penned the screenplay for “Alto Knights.”

Levinson was all the rage in the ‘80s and ‘90s, a go-to filmmaker for smart, adult-oriented Oscar contenders. His résumé includes “Diner,” “Rain Man,” “The Natural,” “Good Morning Vietnam,” “Bugsy,” “Sleepers,” and “Wag the Dog.”