Ben Affleck breaks record for his worst ever box office opening weekend
Ben Affleck has made some flops – Gigli, anyone? – but his new movie has just clocked up the worst opening of his career.
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Ben Affleck has broken a box office record – but it’s really not the kind of record you want to be breaking.
Affleck just turned in a career worst with his new movie, Hypnotic, which made $US2.4 million on its first weekend in the US. In his three decades on screen, that’s the lowest opening he’s ever suffered.
Even the detested Gigli made $US3.8 million despite all the negative press attention. Previously, Affleck’s 1998 flick, Phantoms, held the ignominious record for his worst opening weekend. It made $US3 million.
In Australia, Hypnotic was sixth on the box office charts, selling $264,181 worth of tickets. It ranked a touch behind John Wick: Chapter 4 which clocked up $270,496 in its eighth week of release.
Directed by Robert Rodriguez, Hypnotic reportedly had a budget of $US65 million. For those doing the maths, $US2.4 million is less, much less. It’s about 96 per cent less.
The two highest-grossing films of Affleck’s career remains DC movies Batman vs Superman at $US873 million and Justice League at $US657 million, followed by Armageddon at $US553 million.
His recent movie, Air, which he also directed and starred in alongside Matt Damon, Jason Bateman and Viola Davis, grossed $US87 million globally. It’s currently ranked 12th in the global box office chart of 2023.
While some sites labelled Air a “flop” against its reported budget of $US95 million, the sports drama was distributed by Amazon Prime Video, which bought it primarily for its streaming platform. The economics of Air’s commercial success are different to a traditional cinema release such as Hypnotic.
The Hollywood Reporter flagged that Hypnotic had minimal marketing support in the US and it was the same in Australia, where it was distributed locally by Roadshow Films. Affleck also did not appear to do any promotional press for the project although Rodriguez made the rounds.
The filmmaker behind series From Dusk Till Dawn, Sin City and Planet Terror called Hypnotic his “Hitchcock on steroids”.
In case you haven’t heard of it – and the box office suggests you haven’t – Hypnotic stars Affleck as a cop named Danny who is tipped off about a pending bank robbery. When he turns up to the bizarre scene, it’s chaos as seemingly random strangers, including police, follow the voice commands of a mysterious man.
The man, portrayed by William Fichtner, is a so-called “hypnotic”, someone who can override anyone’s free will with their voice. And he’s somehow connected to Danny’s young daughter, who was previously abducted and never recovered.
Rodriguez had been working on the movie on-and-off for 20 years and the film was shot in 34 days, a relatively tight production timeline.
Hypnotic premiered at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas and will also have a midnight screening at the Cannes Film Festival this month.
Rodriguez revealed in an interview with Collider that there is an extra twist in a mid-credits scene, and audiences at South by Southwest “flipped out”.
So, if you do go see Hypnotic, get your money’s worth and stay until the very end.
Originally published as Ben Affleck breaks record for his worst ever box office opening weekend
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