Award-winning director Damien Chazelle believes Babylon’s box office flop will hurt the chances of his forthcoming movie. Released in 2022, the epic historical comedy-drama focuses on the glamorous lifestyles and decadence of various characters during the great Hollywood boom, a period when silent films moved to talking pictures. Even though Babylon featured a great ensemble cast and had a sizable production budget of $78-80 million, the film was a huge box office failure.
Now, while on TCM’s Talking Pictures podcast (via IndieWire), Chazelle, who was also responsible for films like La La Land and Whiplash, admits that Babylon did not work out at all in financial terms. He also reveals that Babylon’s failure at the box office could affect his chances of making his next movie, adding that he’s currently in a trepidatious state of mind. Read his full comments below:
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Certainly, in financial terms, ‘Babylon’ didn’t work at all. You try to not have that affect what you’re doing creatively, but, at some level, it can’t help but affect it. But maybe that’s OK? I have a very mixed mind about it. Who knows. Maybe I won’t be able to get this one made. I have no idea. We’ll have to wait and see.“
I’ve been head in the sand. I’ve been sort of busy writing. So I’ll get a real taste of how it’s changed or not [since ‘Babylon’] once I get to finish this script and try to actually get it made. I’m in a sort of trepidatious state of mind, but I have no illusions. I won’t get a budget of ‘Babylon’ size any time soon, or at least not on this next one.
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Babylon’s Ending Explained – Breaking Down That Montage & Nellie’s Fate
Damien Chazelle’s Babylon has a lot of themes and plot points worth examining. We break down the film’s ending & where the characters ended up.
Why Did Babylon Flop At The Box Office?
There Were A Couple Of Factors
Prior to the release of Babylon, many film enthusiasts raised eyebrows about the possibility of it breaking even. While Chazelle’s recent movies have found strong critical and commercial success, most especially the Oscar-winning La La Land, the hefty production budget of about $80 million assigned to the making of Babylon made the chances of it succeeding at the box office quite risky.
Upon its theatrical release, Babylon was projected to make about $12-15 million in its opening weekend. However, the movie only managed to accumulate a measly $3.5 million, falling well below expectations. A couple of weeks after the release of Babylon, reports suggested that the historical drama would need to make a whopping $250 million to break even.
Aside from the hefty production budget, Babylon’s extensive runtime of 189 minutes also did it no favors. Since the movie isn’t attached to any huge, successful franchise that has garnered a large following, the chances of moviegoers spending three hours in the theater for an original film were also always unlikely, particularly amid the COVID-19 pandemic. While there haven’t been many reports about Chazelle’s upcoming film, it will be interesting to see how much of an effect Babylon’s failure has on it.
Babylon
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Babylon is a film by director Damien Chazelle (La La Land) that focuses on characters during the great Hollywood boom – when silent films moved to talking pictures, and the medium was reinvented. During this era of decadence and glamorous lifestyles in pure excess, Babylon explores the rise and fall of fictional Hollywood greats that mirror nonfictional actors and actresses throughout American history.
- Director
- Damien Chazelle
- Release Date
- December 23, 2022
- Studio(s)
- Paramount Pictures
- Distributor(s)
- Paramount Pictures
- Writers
- Damien Chazelle
- Cast
- Brad Pitt , Margot Robbie , Tobey Maguire , Samara Weaving , Olivia Wilde , Spike Jonze , Li Jun Li , Jovan Adepo , Jean Smart , Diego Calva
- Runtime
- 189minutes
- Budget
- $78–80 million
