Brothers Grimsby was screened in theaters last Friday and the audience did not like it. With $3.2 million in The United States and around $10 million worldwide, Sasha Baron Cohen‘s new comedy crashed at the box office.
The Brother Grimsby is set in England. Nobby and Sebastian are two brothers that live in an orphanage, but different families adopt them. Nobby grows up to become the typical poor man from a fishing town in England. With 11 children, a pretty girl and a love for soccer, the man is still seeking his lost brother and the plot develops when he reunites with Sebastian, an MI6 agent.
Sony, LStar Capital, and Village Roadshow financed the movie at a total cost of $60 million. The main studio, Sony, was surprised by the revenue of the movie. They praised the effort put on the movie.
“Sacha worked really hard, and the marketing department worked really hard. We think we have a really funny movie but for whatever reason, it didn’t convert,” said Sony distribution Chief Rory Bruer in an interview.
On the other hand, the critic is questioning Cohen’s ability to lure the public into his movies. His clever and edgy humor made Borat one of the biggest surprises in 2006. The movie opened with $26.5 million and cashed $261.6 worldwide. This catapulted Sasha Baron Cohen into stardom. His second movie, Bruno, debuted with $30 million, but at the end, the movie collected $138.5 million worldwide, a 50% decrease.
R-rated comedy is difficult and a lot of people consider that after Borat, the actor lost his touch, Bruno, and the dictator are regarded by many as copies from the first film, but unnecessarily offensive.
The actor is known for being a hard worker. His marketing stunts are usually well received. While promoting The Dictator, he appeared in many famous shows impersonating his character and got a lot of hits on YouTube. With the Brothers Grimsby, Cohen campaigned in a similar way.
The most notable of his efforts was presenting a scene of the movie on Jimmy Kimmel Live. The cameras focused on the audience and the reaction suggested a very shocking scene. The move went viral, millions of views on YouTube and a trend of people recording their reactions. In spite of this, the movie did not attract public. The movie was screened on 50 campuses, but not even young audiences favored the film.
Ironically, the few that saw the movie gave it a good rate, but not even IMDb’s good score makes up for the big failure at the box office.
Source: Hollywood Reporter