Alex Gibney’s ‘Musk’ Flops at the Box Office With $290K Weekend, $614 Per-Screen Average

Alex Gibney's "Musk" expanded to 472 theaters this weekend and grossed just $290,000. That's a $614 per-screen average. Ouch.

And it happened mere days after Elon Musk went viral for unveiling his new Tesla Roadster, a "flying car" that had the internet watching a car leave the ground and freaking out. Musk even got a shout-out from "Back to the Future" star Christopher Lloyd, who tweeted, "Finally, a flying car."

Releasing a nearly four-hour takedown of Musk that same week? Not ideal.

Still, I doubt it was bad timing so much as that four-hour runtime, which is a tough sell for anyone not obsessed with the subject. This is a Alex Gibney film with plenty of press attention and solid reviews behind it. It should've done better than this.

Meanwhile, look at what A24 pulled off with "You Can See Everything," which opened to a stunning $15M on 800+ screens, driven mostly by audiences under 35. So people will show up for a story about a tech figure who fell from grace. They just didn't show up for this one.

The excuses have already started. Bleecker Street says the film struggled to advertise on X and TikTok, and TikTok permanently suspended its ad account this weekend. That's a legit story, and censoring a movie's marketing is never warranted, but let's not pretend a TikTok account was the difference-maker here.

The more likely explanation? Elon fans aren't paying to watch a hit piece, and his detractors aren't paying to sit through a four-hour doc about a man they hate. So who exactly was this movie for? The people who stay neutral whenever Elon's name comes up? Does such a person even exist?

With four years of production, an AI avatar and the kind of legal vetting you need when the world's richest man is threatening to sue, "Musk" didn't come cheap, at least as far as docs go. No official figure has been reported, but best guess is the budget landed somewhere in the $10M–15M range. HBO pre-bought the streaming rights, so this was never going to live or die in theaters, but that was before David Ellison took over, and his family is very close to Elon. Don't be surprised if the streaming release gets quietly squashed.

Taika Waititi Says His ‘Star Wars' Movie Has Been “Put on Ice"

This was inevitably going to happen. Taika Waititi's long-gestating "Star Wars" movie — first announced by Lucasfilm on May the 4th, 2020 — has been "put on ice."

Alex Gibney’s ‘Musk’ Flops at the Box Office With $290K Weekend, $614 Per-Screen Average

No official figure has been reported, but best guess is the budget landed somewhere in the $10M range. HBO pre-bought the streaming rights, but that was before David Ellison took over

‘Michael’ Gets Standing Ovation at DGA Oscar Screening — Best Picture Nomination a Possibility?

This absolutely matters. That room was practically all Oscar voters. Fact remains, “Michael” was always going to contend for a best picture nomination, you just had to set your biases aside.

Kevin Costner Isn't Giving Up on ‘Horizon’: “Ultimately We Are Going to Release Four Movies”

Back in May, a Warner Bros. source told me ‘Chapter 2’ wasn't coming out in 2026. It was “not in the plans.” The film has been finished for two years.

Box-Office: ‘Whalefall' Bombs With $7M Opening on $60M Budget

Duffield's "Whalefall," the survival thriller about a diver swallowed by a sperm whale, is heading toward a roughly $7M-ish opening weekend, according to the most recent Saturday update.

August 19, 2019

3-Hour ‘Midsommar' Director's Cut Screened in NYC

This year’s 12th edition of the Scary Movies festival at Film at Lincoln Center premiered Ari Aster’s extended version of “Midsommar” this past Saturday.

CONFIRMED: Sadie Soverall Exits Brady Corbet's ‘The Origin of the World' Mid-Shoot, Lily McInerny Steps In Lead Role

Sadie Soverall was just let go after briefly filming on Corbet's new film — no official reason given. She had the lead role. Corbet has replaced her, last minute, with Lily McInerny.

Ron Howard’s ‘Alone at Dawn’ Starring Adam Driver and Anne Hathaway Sets Christmas 2027 Release

This is the adaptation of the nonfiction book by Dan Schilling and Lori Longfritz. It wrapped production in February and has been in post-production ever since. The film test-screened a few months ago.

Jeremy Saulnier’s Next Film Retitled to ‘Slayground,’ Current Runtime is 2.5 Hours, Plot Details

Jeremy Saulnier’s mysterious A24 project, formerly “October,” still has no release date. You’d think, given that it has been in post-production for almost a year now.

Jemima Kirke and Alexi Wasser to Star in Woody Allen's Next Film

A few months ago, Deadline reported that Woody Allen's next film, set in Madrid and carrying a $14M budget, will be "largely English-language" and feature a "high-profile cast."

Fritz Lang’s ‘M’ Tops the Best Films of the 1930s, According to 100+ Critics

We’ve gone through the decades. The ‘40s ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, ‘2000s, and ‘2010s. — all revisited, argued over. Now, here are the results for the best films of the 1930s.

Critics Poll: ‘Citizen Kane' Named Best Film of the 1940s

The results are in, and according to critics, this decade filled with cinematic riches did not have a better film than Orson Welles’ “Citizen Kane.” Nobody should be surprised by this result. “Citizen Kane” changed cinema forever.

Critics Poll: ‘Vertigo’ Named Best Film of the 1950s, Over 120 Participants

It was a closer race than anticipated, but Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” has topped our best of the ’50s poll, besting Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen’s “Singin’ in the Rain” by just two votes.

Trending

Critics Polls