Hello Matthew. Long-time reader, first-time commenter.
The short answer to your title question is simple… it didn’t. The best superhero movie of the spring is CIVIL WAR, by a long shot, and it won.
The long answer begins very simply with an observation. MIDNIGHT SPECIAL is in no way, shape, or form a superhero movie. Heroes fight for something and they fight against someone, but — *spoilers ahead* — young Alton is doing neither. It’s more of a puberty story than a superhero one as Alton’s only struggle is in dealing with his changing body. His powers are teased throughout and built to an underwhelming reveal which then simply ends the film. It’s not even as if he’s using his developing powers for good either.
That’s why this doesn’t fit as a superhero origin story either. Alton’s not doing good works — or even attempting to do good works — and instead bad things are happening around him. His protectors even go so far as to shoot a police officer point blank in the chest. (Sure he has a vest, but it’s no guarantee of his safety.) It’s all to bring him towards this YA fiction cliche of “the one” incredibly important youngster. Even at the end though all we get is him leaving his family and religious cult behind to join some creepy-eyed voyeurs who are essentially just as much of a cult. “They’ve been watching us for a long time,” we’re told. Cool. How does that help anyone? It doesn’t, outside of Alton, who heads off to the invisible pervert school while his family pays the price.
You can argue it’s a tale of faith-based sacrifice or the inexplicable lengths people will go to for their children, but there’s nothing “superhero” about MIDNIGHT SPECIAL.
As for relying on that word of mouth roll out to make it a hit… it doesn’t look like the word of mouth was there. Theater count increased all the way up through its 5th week, but the box office still dropped from week 4 to 5 even as those additional theaters were added. Maybe WB could have kept plugging and upped the theater count again anyway, but a business has to draw the line somewhere. It’s no surprise that the Alamo Drafthouse and its audiences loved it — Nichols is an Austin treasure — but it’s not unusual for a film to escape its localized bubble and immediately lose steam. It’s the same principle behind Comic Con and festival screenings. Could there have been more marketing? There can always be more marketing, but I saw plenty of it over the past few months (and I don’t even have cable), but outside of movie blogs and critics no one was really talking about it.
People saw it, they appreciated the performances and the setup, and then they waited for something that never came. Leave an audience underwhelmed and they don’t exactly rush out of the theater excited to tell people.
