Why weren’t prayers answered for “Are you there God? It’s Margaret at the box office: It’s complicated

At a time when theater is trying to differentiate itself with more productive fare than the factory shipper of mundane products coming out of streaming, it’s with great dismay to learn that Lionsgate’s feature film adaptation of Judy Blume’s 1970 novel is the top one are you there god it’s me margaret came up short at the box office with a na $6.8 million Opening; below both the $7 million to $9 million the studio has seen and its more bullish $10 million peers.

To find out what went wrong here in Judy Blume’s first big-screen Hollywood appearance (her son Lawrence Blume previously directed an indie version of her 1981 novel, tiger eyes, which earned $27,000), which won over critics (99% certified fresh) and the few ticket buyers (A CinemaScore), has less to do with the commercial potential of the best-selling novel-based genre of female visuals – and more to to do with the featherweight Situation of Blume’s material to do.

Unlike Stephen King, whose novels have been continuously adapted for the big screen since his early days as an author (his 1974 novel wear First released in 1976, Blume’s literary canon never made its way to the cinema, but to television (read the 1978 television film based on her novel, Always). Part of that had to do with Blume’s failure to find the right creative partners in Hollywood. Nor did her books conform to a three-act structure perfect for the big screen.

In spite of Margaret beloved by women over 30, and Blume’s legacy, the cultural urgency on the big screen for this initiation rite for teenage girls was absent: the 13-17-year-old set represented just 6% of all ticket buyers. According to RelishMix, social media performance on the photo was poor with 66.1 million followers across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

MargaretThe weekend’s main demo featured older white women. Per Comscore/Screen Engine, 55% of Margaret Ticket buyers were women over 45, 70% white. It was a slow audience coming out of the pandemic.

further aggravating marginIs The attraction was the film’s strong young female themes, e.g.

MargareteT‘s journey to the cinema begins with The edge of seventeen Filmmaker Kelly Fremon Craig passionately emailed Blume to adapt the book, and director and producer James L. Brooks personally auditioned with Blume in Key West, Florida. Blume apparently loved how Craig handled teenage angst the edge of seventeen, This clever film also faces its own box office hurdles, failing to satisfy pre-pandemic social media-obsessed teenage girls with a $4.7 million opening and a final domestic of 14.4 to pull in millions of dollars .

When the auction came Margaret’s Right, Lionsgate had it easy for them because such female YA fare is in their wheelhouse, not just with blockbuster franchises like hunger games And elsebut also literary films for young adults such as Five feet apart ($13.1 million opening, $45 million domestic final) and the Family YA title Wonder (Open $27.5 million, domestic $132.4 million). It made sense for Lionsgate to turn a classic girls’ novel by an 85-year-old author into a 90 million-copy film. The writer also had the most social media following of anyone in the cast last weekend, with 832,000 followers across all platforms, per RelishMix. Blume was very happy about that Margaret, she was an integral part of the press tour and exclaimed that the film is better than the book. When have you ever heard that from a writer?

Originally, Margaret was set to hit theaters on September 16 last year. In hindsight 20/20 with fewer films in the program, wouldn’t it have been great? Not necessary. First, we hear that Brooks and Craig were still working on the film after a trailer surfaced at CinemaCon last year. let alone Margaret Seized a Possible Teenage Girl Typhoon: Starring Harry Styles Don’t worry love (which opened at $19.3 million, ended at $45.3 million; ultimately no threat). Lionsgate printed Margaret until the pre-summer weekend, the last frame in April this year. First, taking advantage of Mother’s Day knowing that this older audience will need time to come out and last summer also turned out to be a boat-only marketplace of sorts, with warped female counter-programming, e.g. elvis and Sony’s feature of Delia Owens’ bestseller 2018 Where the crayfish sing released with a fresh face, it crushed bad reviews with an opening of $17.2 million, a profit of $90.2 million in the United States and ultimately a profit of nearly $75 million.

More to the point with Margaret, The problem is not with the genre of films based on female bestsellers, but with the tome itself at the age of 53. The filmmakers stayed true to the 1970s setting rather than updating it, and historical dramas are always an uphill battle at the box office. The best-selling female novels to collect at the box office did so within a few years of publication. In such cases, their audiences weren’t necessarily swayed by bad reviews or branding (Haley Lu Richardson, who recently appeared on HBO’s second season white lotus, was an aspiring actress still in 2019 Five feet apart).

Even by pre-pandemic standards, the signs were there Margaret could struggle at the box office given the age of its property. In 2010, 20th Century Fox released the first adaptation of a Beverly Cleary novel Ramona and Beezus with Selena Gomez and Joey King. The film was released 55 years after the first Cleary novel Beezus and Ramona has been published. Cleary was also a popular girl writer, but again the novel was dated (the film was positioned for a much younger teenage audience than Margaret Here). How much did it bring? A results similar to what we saw Margaret This weekend: $7.8M 3 days (last domestic $26.1M).

So how to solve a problem like Margaret? They really can’t help but make a great, award-winning film for Blume fans, and that’s exactly what happened here. Only its solid ground will remain Margaret popular in its downstream rescue services.

Yes, streaming is taking movie theaters by storm, and the format’s flagship demo, Women, has more than enough content to keep you at home. Given the iconoclastic history of Blume’s novels, many are already streaming in the near future, which means an animated production by the Russo brothers Superfudge for Disney+, a Netflix-based series Always of friends Creator Mara Brock Akil and summer sisters at Peacock with Jenna Bush Hager.

But Blume’s groundbreaking novel, Margaret, was worthy of quality treatment on the big screen.

You see, even though the annual domestic box office for 2022 is up 37% to $2.65 billion, it’s clear that non-tentpole adults are challenged. This weekend I got a message from a producer asking why I don’t poop Three-hour production of A24 worth $35 million (and $20 million + expenses) from Beau is scared more. The picture will be lucky enough to reach $10 million in the United States. I explained this to the manufacturer. I addressed this in last week’s column. The point is that we should give these avant-garde and sophisticated films a chance. These smaller daring swings will continue to lose money until cinema attendance fully recovers (as I wrote, several auteur films always lose money in theaters but find life in sideshows, i.e. any film made by Paul Thomas Anderson). Yes, Heaven, is a money loser by studio accounting standards with a purchase price of $125 million and a production budget of $90 million. However, Amazon has the Byzantine model of financial transactions to streamline such costs. Besides, why kick a streamer in the teeth when they try to get back into theatrical distribution? The industry needs more Amazon-wide releases and more streamers committed to long cinema windows.

If we continue to bury good movies from streaming, they will stay buried. At last week’s CinemaCon, Martin Scorsese expressed his concerns about the future of filmmaking. How are they supposed to be inspired by the selection of titles on a streaming menu when we keep bringing bold movies to the big screen?

“Getting younger people to enjoy the movie experience…on a screen that’s bigger and more engaging than the movies they watch at home will make a difference,” said the Oscar winner.

For Lionsgate last weekend John Wick: Chapter 4 became the highest-grossing film in the series with $402 million. With production costs of $30 million and over $20 million in marketing expenses Margaret wouldn’t break the bank, nor was it a financially irresponsible bet. The studio has a healthy 53-day theatrical window for the film. The hope right now is that the film will cross $30 million in addition to a 5x opening multiplier. It’s entirely possible given the kind of reviews and CinemaScore it has; lobster earned 5.2 times the $17.2 million opening with an A-CinemaScore. Ultimately, the film was made to appease Blume fans indefinitely.

As the old rule goes, the cost of great art is offset by a studio’s wealth earned from the blockbusters on their slate.