Universal Pictures
Universal appears to be throwing in the towel on Steve Jobs, the Danny Boyle-directed, Aaron Sorkin-scripted, Michael Fassbender, Seth Rogen and Kate Winslet-led movie that focused on three separate, iconic Apple product launches and the charismatic man that was at their center.
That’s a lot of talent. It also received a decent critical response. But in the end, the people who mattered most — those who would purchase tickets and go see the film in theaters — didn’t show. To date, Steve Jobs has made only $16.7 million since its release on October 9th, which is just over half of its production budget of $30 million. On October 23rd, the film rolled out to a wide release after a promising limited run (pulling in $521,522 in four theaters). After a dismal $7.1 million opening weekend, things never recovered. And according to some research by the folks at Collider, Steve Jobs has been dropped from 2,072 theaters. Down to only 421 locations nationwide where the movie is not showing. Sicario, which went into wide release a month earlier, is still in 722 theaters.
The saddest part: It has only barely outperformed the 2013 Ashton Kutcher-led film Jobs, which brought in $16.1 million domestically. That film was widely panned by critics and only had a budget of $12 million. The failure of the much higher profile Steve Jobs movie is making the Kutcher version look like a roaring success.
A lot of the conversation will now turn to whether or not Steve Jobs will have enough momentum to compete on Oscar night. As our own Tomris Laffly wrote earlier in the week, a number of other movies are beginning to heat up. With Steve Jobs making a relatively early and unceremonious exit from theaters in mid-November, it’s possible that it will get lost in the fray. It seems like the kind of film that will be a lock for a screenwriting nomination and perhaps get some love for Michael Fassbender (though he also has Macbeth coming up). Some pundits remain confident, though. Paul Dergarabedian of Rentrak told The Hollywood Reporter that the film’s “box-office performance should not impact its Oscar prospects. After all, it’s the Oscars, not the People’s Choice Awards.”
Needless to say, Universal may have given up the box office fight, but there’s still plenty of work left to do in order to woo critics groups and Academy voters. If Steve Jobs finds itself in the heat of awards season, that could propel it to some new life in its home video and VOD release.
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