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The Last Duel: a $100M Ridley Scott film that grossed $30.5M
20th Century's $100M Ridley Scott epic The Last Duel opened to $4.8M and grossed $30.5M worldwide, a box-office bomb.
20th Century Studios · 2021-10-15
What happened
The Last Duel, a historical drama directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon, Adam Driver and Ben Affleck, cost north of $100 million and was released by 20th Century Studios on October 15, 2021.
The film grossed a pallid $4.8 million on opening weekend and went on to take only $30.5 million worldwide. Variety called the result 'a disastrous result' and the film 'bombed.'
The failure came despite a star-studded cast and a critically well-received premise, and 20th Century — by then a Disney label — was left with a heavy write-down on one of the year's most expensive bombs.
Why it happened
- 20th Century spent over $100M on a 14th-century duel drama, betting Ridley Scott and its star cast would draw a broad adult audience.
- The film opened to a pallid $4.8M, a disastrous result, and finished with just $30.5M worldwide against the huge budget.
- Against a $100M+ outlay, the $30.5M gross made it a box-office bomb, leaving the Disney-owned label with a major write-down.
The lesson
A star cast is not an audience: 20th Century spent $100M+ on Ridley Scott's The Last Duel and it grossed $30.5M — prestige and stars do not substitute for a story moviegoers will leave the house for.
Sources
- Wikipedia — The Last Duel (2021 film)
- Variety — Box Office: 'Halloween Kills' Scores $50.4M, 'The Last Duel' Bombs
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