As we speak, four months into the movie year, the only two big studio U.S. films to have been universally acclaimed by critics have been Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners,” and Steven Soderbergh’s “Black Bag.”
While “Sinners” will have a healthy $40M opening this weekend, “Black Bag,” a more adult-oriented spy drama, fell flat at the box-office, earning just $21M and a very quick shipment to VOD.
Soderbergh is opening up about his frustrations with the underwhelming box office performance of his latest release. Despite earning strong reviews and industry buzz, the espionage thriller has struggled to attract audiences—a reality Soderbergh finds troubling for the future of mid-budget, adult-oriented cinema.
In a conversation with The Independent, Soderbergh expressed concern over what he sees as a declining appetite for the kind of storytelling that helped launch his career. “This is the type of film I built my career on,” he said. “If star-driven, moderately budgeted movies can’t bring in audiences over 25 anymore, that signals a serious problem. What does that mean for the next generation of filmmakers hoping to make similar movies?”
“Black Bag,” produced by Focus Features and starring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender as a married couple navigating both personal and geopolitical tensions, is expected to just break even financially. Soderbergh shared that the film’s opening weekend sparked internal discussions across the industry. “A friend at another studio told me that Monday morning’s meeting began with: ‘What does it say when a film like this underperforms?’ And that’s disheartening,” he said.
Although Focus has assured him that the film will ultimately turn a profit, Soderbergh emphasized that the deeper issue is the dwindling support for films that fall outside blockbuster spectacle or low-budget horror. “We need to find a way to reconnect with this audience—these are stories made for grown-ups, and we can’t afford to let them disappear,” he added.
He also reflected on the shifting landscape of the industry, admitting that several of his most celebrated films might not be greenlit today. “Erin Brockovich and Traffic probably wouldn’t get made in this climate,” he said. “Unless you have someone like Timothée Chalamet, who thankfully still takes on diverse roles, the door for these projects is closing fast.”
With all due respect to Soderbergh, the reported $60M budget for “Black Bag” is still quite steep for a film of that nature. Plus, by the time he directed “Erin Brockovich” and “Traffic,” he had already built significant momentum with back-to-back critical hits, “Out of Sight” and “The Limey” — at that point, he essentially had a blank check. So, he might have been able to get those two films made, even in today’s climate.
Soderbergh has remained busy this year with the releases of “Black Bag” and”Presence,” and he’s currently in post-production on “The Christophers,” a dark comedy featuring Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel.