The upcoming historical epic Napoleon is being hyped as a triumphant return to historical epics for Ridley Scott, which highlights just how overlooked his actual return to that genre was in 2021. While his filmography is diverse, Scott is still most widely recognized for his historical epics, and Napoleon is being touted as his best since Gladiator. The fact that this is even a talking point proves exactly how few people even saw the critically acclaimed The Last Duel starring Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Ben Affleck and Jodie Comer, which was an utter failure at the box office.
Ridley Scott has made a career in historical epics, although he has had more critical misses than hits. While the Academy Award-winning Gladiator is his greatest triumph, 1492: Conquest of Paradise, Kingdom of Heaven and Robin Hood all received mixed reviews. His critical failures often bombed at the box office as well, but his most recent historical epic was a conundrum in that it was applauded by critics but still made very little money. The Last Duel should have paved the way for Napoleon, but instead, it made no impact on moviegoers.
The Last Duel Was The Movie Napoleon Is Being Heralded As (But No One Saw It)
While many think it will be Napoleon, The Last Duel was Scott’s true return to historical epics, as it was his first since the disastrous 2014 biblical adventure Exodus: Gods and Kings. Critics and audiences (the ones that saw it, anyway) agreed that The Last Duel was a unique and thought-provoking epic drama carried by outstanding acting performances. On Rotten Tomatoes, both its critic and audience scores have settled over 80 percent, and it was nominated for three Critics’ Choice Super Awards, among other accolades.
Unfortunately, that yielded just $30M at the box office, on a budget of roughly $200M ($100M for production and $100M for marketing), resulting in one of the most incredible financial failures for Ridley Scott. The Last Duel‘s $4.8M domestic opening was the worst of Scott’s career. It’s a fairly well-known fact that period pieces like The Last Duel, which is set in Medieval France, are considered risky box office prospects, but the hope was the movie’s star power and positive critical reception would overcome the uncertainty. Napoleon shares a similar profile and, in theory, carries similar risk, but the hype surrounding it already far outweighs any expectations that The Last Duel ever had.
Why The Last Duel Bombed At The Box Office
The Last Duel may have been a casualty of the American box office’s struggle to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. When it was released in the fall of 2021, theaters were still trying to lure moviegoers back to the in-person experience following the rise of streaming. Certain genres, like superhero and horror, proved themselves all but indestructible thanks to built-in audiences and enthusiasm from younger demographics. Before the pandemic, movies like The Last Duel or Napoleon were driven by audiences 35 and older, and in 2021 those audiences simply hadn’t returned to the theaters in the massive numbers necessary to help a period piece succeed. In an interview, Ridley Scott blamed the poor box office returns on millennials.
Several factors likely converged to create such a spectacular box office failure. The film’s core conflict centers around a sexual assault and the victim not being believed, which most certainly discouraged some would-be viewers. The Last Duel also went head-to-head with Halloween Kills, which was a box office smash despite releasing simultaneously on the Peacock streaming platform. Despite its powerhouse ensemble cast and big-name director, there wasn’t any true draw in the mix.
Ridley Scott is not an “appointment viewing” director like Quentin Tarantino or James Cameron. While Damon, Affleck, Driver and Comer are all stars in their own right, none of them drive audiences independently like Brad Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio. Again, Napoleon is poised to deal with many of these same factors, but other factors are working for it that should make it a much bigger hit.
Napoleon Will Be Bigger For Ridley Scott Than The Last Duel Was
Right off the bat, Napoleon has name recognition in its favor. People across the globe know who Napoleon Bonaparte was, and therefore they have some semblance of understanding of the movie without any research. On the other hand, The Last Duel was told the story of a relatively obscure duel from the Middle Ages between two historical figures very few have ever heard of. Napoleon also stars Joaquin Phoenix, who is reuniting with Ridley Scott after his star-making turn in Gladiator. That parallel will conjure anticipation, especially given the early hype surrounding Phoenix’s performance in Napoleon.
Perhaps most importantly, Napoleon is an Apple Studios production—it will head to Apple TV+ after its theatrical run, which begins on Nov. 22, 2023. Given that the draw for Apple Studios will be its streaming life as opposed to its box office pull, the measure for success will be very atypical. With its early presence on a streaming platform, it’s all but certain that Napoleon will be a massive hit as far as how many eyes it draws. The older audience that The Last Duel was unable to capture will have Napoleon brought to their homes, which should make it a huge triumph for Ridley Scott.
