First Man: The movie that could’ve won…
A stellar cast, an oscar winning director and a heartwarming story of hope and grit. Sounds like a recipe for a guaranteed box office success? Unfortunately, in the case of First Man, it wasn’t.
Damien Chazelle’s mastery of the craft shines through as he tells us Neil Armstrong’s story. The attention to detail is perfect. At each and every moment we are shown the trials and tribulations that our protagonist had to deal with.
Coupled with Justin Hurwitz’s haunting sound track we are transported into America of the 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, where moments of pure will, creativity and passion by a few individuals changed the world.
But, unfortunately, the ticket sales didn’t seem to reflect the same story.
A quick look at the numbers tells us a completely different story.
The first weekend saw a steady incline in box office sales. However, by the end of Week 1, ticket collections were no where close to expectations. The usual trend for a critically acclaimed movie is that positive word-of-mouth publicity pushes it towards break even in Week 2 and 3.
Unfortunately, First man saw a 50% drop in its revenue in one week!
