Director Martin Scorsese’s film Killers of the Flower Moon was finally released on October 20th after being in production since 2016. During its opening weekend, the film performed fairly well, given that this was Scorsese’s first movie after the global pandemic. However, the film witnessed a sharp decline in its number of viewers on the second weekend. The film has been praised by fans and critics, but many have complained about its length, leading to a 61% drop in its number of viewers.
The budget of the film was roughly $200 million and by the looks of it, it will have a hard time churning out some profit. The film focuses on a series of murders of Osage members and relations in the Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma after oil was being produced on tribal land.
Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon is expected to be a financial loss
It seems like director Martin Scorsese‘s Killers of the Flower Moon is struggling to fill up theatres. With its release on 20th October, the film managed to earn $23.3 million on its opening weekend, but that number had dropped to $9 million on the second weekend, as per Variety. It seems like director Emma Tammi’s Five Nights at Freddy’s made things worse for Killers of the Flower Moon.
Apart from this, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film put the last nail in the coffin. The concert film has generated over $203 million since its release on 13th October. Scorsese’s 2023 film had a production budget of $200 million and so far, things are not looking good. The film will soon be available for streaming on Apple TV+.
Are big-budget superhero films killing the art of cinema?
In 2019, Scorsese famously blasted big-budget superhero franchises, particularly Marvel, for destroying the art of cinema, comparing superhero movies to “theme parks.” The director claimed (via IndieWire) that these films arent “the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.” It’s true that these blockbuster superhero movies take away the spotlight from auteur filmmakers. Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame grossed over $2.7 million at the time of its release, forcing Scorsese to share his views on the franchise.
Franchises like DC and Marvel are only expanding and fans are definitely looking forward to it. On the other hand, the popularity of auteur filmmakers is slowly declining. Even director Clint Eastwood’s last film, Cry Macho (2021), was a financial loss, grossing $16 million against a $33 million budget.
