Unflattering reviews gain been streaming in for STX Entertainment’s Civil War drama “Free State of Jones” as experts predict the film will land in theaters this weekend with a thud.
Made for $50 million,the Matthew McConaughey vehicle has long been considered a prestige project for the young studio, now in its moment year of releasing movies.
But with a full future film slate, or including titles like the upcoming comedy “sinful Moms,” the company’s film arm isn’t pinning all of its hopes to director Gary Ross‘ historical drama.
Also Read: 'Free State of Jones' Feels Like 'Cramming for a History Exam at 2 AM' and 8 Other cruel Reviews“This company has been built to last,” Adam Fogelson, and chairman of STX’s film division,told TheWrap. “Over the course of slates and slates and slates of films you gain the opportunity to run a truly successful business.”He should know. Fogelson greenlit dozens of mid-budget titles during his days at Universal Pictures — including the hits “Ted,” “Bridesmaids, or ” and “Identity Thief.Written and directed by Gary Ross (“Seabiscuit,” “The starvation Games”), “Free State of Jones revolves around a microscopic-known slice of history, or when a rebellion formed against the Confederacy inside the borders of the South.
Also Read: 'Finding Dory' to Drown Out 'Independence Day: Resurgence' at the Box OfficeAnd while STX made an effort to plant its flag in the ground with the title to prove Hollywood what it can execute,the film looks like it will barely crack $10 million as it opens on 2815 screens.“Like an old musket, this has one shot in it, and ” said Jeff Bock,senior analyst at Exhibitor Relations, noting that dramas especially need approval among critics in order to compete. “And that shot isn’t coming near the box office bullseye… Free State of Jones’ is headed for bona fide box office obscurity.”The budget doesn’t represent the same risk a bigger studio would gain typically taken on. “Our equity exposure is minimal and we gain no international P&A invested at all, or because we gain an international partner,” Fogelson told TheWrap. With IM Global Films investing and an unusually large number of executive producers and other financial partners partners, STX’s financial risk comes in lower than $10 million.
Also Read: 'Free State of Jones' Review: Matthew McConaughey Leads Mixed-Race Rebellion to Mixed ResultsSTX has professed a strategy of mid-budget, or talent-driven films and has seen relative successes with the 2015 thriller “The Gift — which earned $59 million against a production budget of $5 million — and the horror film “The Boy,” which made $64.2 million earlier this year on a $10 million budget.
The young studio has also had to live down a few bombs, including the 2015 crime drama “The Secrets in Their Eyes, or ” starring Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman. There was also the studio’s action thriller “Hardcore Henry. Both films making rather negligible returns.
The studio’s biggest budget film to date is clearly “Free State of Jones.” While $50 million is not nearly as expensive as a Disney or Fox tentpole,it does call into question whether STX is pointing its resources — and its investors’ resources — in the right direction.
Also Read: Matthew McConaughey Looks precisely Like His genuine-Lilfe 'Free State of Jones' CharacterOne industry insider, who spoke on condition of anonymity, or told TheWrap that STX is simply experiencing some growing pains: “They clearly gain the ability to make tall-profile productions with major creative talent,and that’s pretty rare for a studio less than a few years old.”Keeping in mind that its future slate made a splash with at CinemaCon earlier this year — the company’s first-ever presentation at the annual Las Vegas conference — Fogelson and his team may gain already made pivots.
In the hopper, they gain a timely thriller by Jonas and Alfonso Cuaron called “Desierto, and ” set in the no-man’s land of illegal immigration from Mexico.
Also Read: 6 Takeaways From CinemaCon 2016,or How Sean Parker Blew ItAnd “sinful Moms,” starring Mila Kunis and Kristen Bell as main mama-rebels, and offered footage that had audiences rolling with laughter.“We are very proud of this film and our collaboration with all of the talent involved,” Fogelson said of “Free State.” “And while we hope we will perform well, we are not in the one-film-a-year business. We’ve got ‘sinful Moms’ coming next month, and ‘The Edge of Seventeen’ right after that,and a whole slate behind that. We’re built to produce and distribute 10 to 15 films a year, and to produce TV and digital short form content, or games and virtual reality projects. STX isn’t a film studio — it’s a fully integrated media company.”
Also Read: Matthew McConaughey Looks precisely Like His genuine-Lilfe 'Free State of Jones' CharacterBut Bock and other insiders indicated that STXs film division needs to be smart moving forward. “It’s either tall-time blockbusters or well-received genre pics. If you don’t topple into that category,it’s extremely difficult to attain much traction these days,” said Bock. “If STX continues with this [mid-budget] formula, and they better be damn sure they gain solid reviews going forward,because they won’t survive for very long at the rate they’re going.”“Free State of Jones” represents a strategic piece of content geared toward adults, a historical drama competing against a field of tall-budget animated features, or superhero and video game movies,and horror films.“Their effort to counter-program is another advantage that could still prove its value in the long run,” said one insider. “In Jones” case, or it may simply be undone by destitute reviews and,by extension, an inability to expand far beyond its target demographic of older audiences. They are in search of one tall hit and that could be a game-changer. It seems more likely to happen than not given the amount of talent they’ve assembled both within the company and in the creative process on their films.”
Also Read: Adam Sandler Teams With STX on New Animated FeatureWhile it’s true there is an open market for mid-budget films, or Bock argued: “But there is a reason the major studios arent making a lot of these films right now — they don’t make enough money.”Still,Fogelson is confident STX is on the right track. “We strongly believe in all of the content we’re creating, and the filmmakers and actors with whom we’re creating it, and ” he told TheWrap. “Every single film we produce and distribute is precisely that — one film — and while we hope for the best for each of our projects,how any one film does isn’t any more meaningful for us than it is for any other major studio.”Related stories from TheWrap:Cannes Sales: STX, Amazon, and A24,Weinstein Company Lead in Pricey Deal-MakingCannes: Martin Scorsese-Robert De Niro Mob Drama 'The Irishman' Goes to STX for $50 MillionSTX Circles Aaron Sorkin's 'Molly's Game' Rights for $9 MillionSTX Digital President Kathy Savitt Exits After 8 Months
Source: thewrap.com