In my movie ROI database of over 2800 titles from 1924 to present, I have 21 titles starring George Clooney and 20 starring Julia Roberts.
Together, George Clooney's 21 movies have paid back $2.92 in revenue for each production budget dollar spent making his movies, while Julia Roberts' 20 have averaged a return of $3.88 in revenue for each production budget dollar spent making her movies (this includes the overlap of movies in which they star together, of course).
In an age of CGI, superheroes, fast and furious stunts, and terrifying clowns showing no regard for the dignity of life or human bodies, it's positively refreshing to see audiences support a return of $7.45 for this light-hearted, heartwarming rom-com, more than double the database-wide average of $3.62
What's most remarkable, to me? This is the highest paying movie in the 21 Clooney titles. (It's not for Roberts, she pulled in $33.07 on Pretty Woman.)
Now, this isn't the best movie Clooney has ever made (or, at least, that's my opinion). Nor is it the most important, in terms of message. It's not serious, or tense. It's not particularly relevant to anything going on in headlines today. I'm even willing to argue that it has no particular political agenda, is not trying to be "woke" or wag a finger at any person or group or ideaology (there are those who just dismiss anything Clooney does because they see him as a part of the "radical left"), and this is not a small issue because, right out of the gate, a not-insignificant portion of the potential audience would already have decided they would not bother going to a movie theatre to watch a George Clooney movie.
It's a pure, simple, romantic comedy with an ending most people would consider a happy one. It's the kind of movie Matt Damon said can't be made anymore!
With all of that going against it, this is movie is achieving remarkable business success.
Kudos.
Edit: I should hasten to disclaim, while I am a George Clooney fan, I didn't write this "about him" as opposed to how important or relevant or otherwise this movie fits into Julia Roberts' body of work (and she's done some important work, no disrespect).
I only couched it in terms of Clooney because he garners so much vitriol from the Conservatives who think he's pushing wokeness beyond whatever threshold they tolerate as reasonable (which isn't much). Clooney leading means a reduced audience, AND YET it did good business anyway, is what is noteworthy here. Again, given Roberts has put up stellar double digit returns that Clooney NEVER has, one would be less surprised that this movie did so well, so its performance is less newsworthy if I made the comment about Roberts.
Hope that makes sense.
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Réponse de northcoast
le 21 novembre 2022 à 20h00
Hey there, DRDMovieMusings, I just got back from seeing this in the theater tonight, and was going to post a thread seeing as none had been started, and here you beat me to it!
You are right in your implication that the movie is good, but nothing spectacular. It is light-hearted, as you say, and gets the job done, with no apparent agenda. And those might be the very reasons why it has been such a financial success:
There is a large segment of the movie-going audience, in my view, that just wants to see something that isn't a superhero movie, that isn't "woke"-driven, or isn't a kid's movie, or not part of a franchise of endless sequels, while at the same time, is still an escape from our pandemic/recovering pandemic world. And "Ticket to Paradise" satisfies that appetite.
As a side-note, I continue to be impressed by Kaitlyn Dever. I have by no means seen all of her work, but I have seen a substantial sample of it, and I do think, with continued effort, that she could acquit herself well in any genre.
Réponse de DRDMovieMusings
le 21 novembre 2022 à 20h40
It's all good!
And, apparently, there is indeed an appetite for this kind of movie. These movie makers are sharp, good for them in addressing it.
This was my first time seeing her, but she's got the makings of being another Drew Barrymore or Jason Bateman. She's been on Curb Your Enthusiasm and Modern Family, she's been rolling with and learning from heavy hitters since she was a little kid. Good for her.