George Clooney has shifted his focus from being an actor to a filmmaker these days. His latest project, the biographical sports drama The Boys in the Boat, graced theaters last Christmas. Clooney has expressed his affinity for underdog sports dramas, believing that they will always captivate the audience.
However, the sports drama genre has been suffering for the past few years. Despite telling grounded stories often based on real-life events, these films find it difficult to resonate with audiences. An example of a well-intentioned film struggling to find its audience is Taika Waititi’s recent release, Next Goal Wins.
George Clooney Believes Underdog Sports Movies Always Work
The Boys in the Boat director George Clooney and lead actor Callum Turner recently appeared in an interview with Discussing Film, where they discussed the film and its genre. The interviewer noted that the underdog sports genre still manages to draw audiences and asked Clooney to weigh in on why these stories continue to be popular. The Ocean’s Eleven actor agreed with the interviewer, sharing that everyone likes an underdog story.
In the film, the University of Washington rowing team is a bunch of underdogs in the 1936 Olympics. With a focus on the abandoned young boy in the team, Joe Rantz, played by Callum Turner, the movie effectively unfolds the classic underdog-wins-big storyline. Clooney explained his fondness for the idea of a character not originally meant to be somewhere but ultimately succeeding.
He drew parallels to timeless films like Casablanca and All the President’s Men, both classic examples of compelling underdog stories. Clooney shared in the Discussing Film interview:
“It’s a funny thing. We do like an underdog story. It’ll even go back to films like Casablanca, which is an underdog story. […] All the President’s Men is an underdog story because those two reporters weren’t supposed to be the guys. There’s something about the idea of you not being meant to being somewhere but getting there anyway, that I have always liked.”
Clooney further added that real-life true stories offer a distinct advantage. The ER actor shared that such stories don’t adhere to the formulaic approach adopted by usual sports flicks. The real events will keep the audience wanting to know the fate of the actual characters in those situations. Clooney continued:
“I feel like for us, the advantage was that this was a true story, because if it wasn’t it would feel formulaic, right? Did the kid really get sick? Did the other coach really give them money? All those things happened, so it being true helped a lot.”
While Clooney’s optimism about such films is appreciable, the history and box-office data of this genre in recent years do not paint a nice picture. The Boys in the Boat, made on a $40 million budget, has only managed to gross $42 million so far.
Taika Waititi’s Film’s Failure May Shatter Hopes For The Genre
Before George Clooney’s depiction of the underdog rowing team, Taika Waititi’s movie about an underdog football team faced disappointment at the box office. Waititi’s independent film, Next Goal Wins, starring Michael Fassbender, narrates the story of a coach assigned with an impossible task. He has to transform the underdog American Samoa national football team into an elite World Cup Squad.
While the film played its cards right and placed all the hooking elements into the storyline, it failed to attract a big crowd in theaters. Released on November 17, 2023, the film has only managed to gross $16.4 million as of January 15, 2024, one day before its digital release. This issue is not unique to Waititi’s film. Even the highly acclaimed sports movie of last year, Air, hardly managed to surpass its budget during its theatrical run.
The Boys in the Boat is now available for rent on AppleTV+, while Next Goal Wins is available for purchase on Amazon and AppleTV+.
