Michael Bay, the filmmaker behind the “Armageddon”, “Pearl Harbor” and “Transformers” films, was once the premier architect of big-budget blockbusters. Ambulance, the director’s latest action thriller, proves that times and tastes have changed in the days since chaos and Autobots ruled the box office.
Over the weekend, Universal’s hit “Ambulance,” a heist movie that largely unfolds on EMS, pulled in $8.7 million from 3,412 North American theaters. It’s a disappointing domestic debut at the box office given Bey’s track record of commercial success. The R-rated “Ambulance” is currently ranked as the worst opening weekend of Bay’s career, coming behind the 2013 blockbuster action comedy “Pain & Gain” ($20 million debut) and the 2016 Benghazi war film “13 Hours” ( $16 million for the first time). Neither of these two films went on to set the world on fire.
You might say, “Hey! We’re still living in a pandemic, and the domestic box office hasn’t gone back to normal.” This is true. But during the same three-day period that “Ambulance” faded, the family-friendly game “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” opened with $71 million. Older male moviegoers, the target demographic for Bay’s films, have appeared in “The Batman,” “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and James Bond’s most recent assignment, No Time to Die. Several other films have managed to sell out despite the ongoing pandemic. During Sunday, “Ambulance” made just $2 million more than A24’s comedy, fantasy, and sci-fi group “Everything Everywhere at Once” ($6 million from 1,250 North American theaters) although the latter was He plays in a much smaller number of cinemas.
Some box office analysts believe that the crowded market — Jared Leto’s antihero adventure “Moribius” and Sandra Bullock and the spiral romance comedy “The Lost City” that ranked higher on the box office charts — worked against “Ambulance.”
“Timing has been the biggest factor in the action against the ambulance this weekend,” said Shaun Robbins, chief analyst at Box Office Pro. “Although ‘Sonic 2’ is a family movie, it has attracted hugely male audiences up and down the age spectrum due to the brand’s intergenerational appeal. This made a huge cut in the usual wheelhouse for these types of films and moviegoers. Targets in the Bay”.
Ambulance costs $40 million, relatively cheap for Bee, whose previous films carried price tags of over $100 million. (The studio spent tens of millions more on marketing and other efforts to get the film on audience radars.) For a major studio release, the $8.7 million debut is disappointing any way you go. But the blow would have been more painful if the production budget had been closer to nine figures.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, there was no filmmaker greater than Bey. His films might not make the decade’s best critics’ lists (they did, they probably did, Gaining admission to the set of criteria), but Bey had a knack for turning adrenaline-defying, physics-defying feature films that define pop culture. This format doesn’t always work these days, especially when Netflix regularly rolls out a library that plays like a tribute to Bay’s Filmography. However, fans do not have to leave their homes to watch Bay’s “The Old Guard”, “Triple Frontier” and “6 Underground” films. And while those movies boasted big stars and (mostly) positive reviews, none of them managed to stay in the zeitgeist in the same vein as “Bad Boys” or “Armageddon.” Scott Stuber, president of Netflix, later admitted diverse That “6 Underground” did not live up to expectations.
In some ways, the Netflixiation from rom-coms It has come for bustling action scenes. The influx of stories of satisfyingly cute encounters has trained people to lower their expectations and stay home to watch any movie that isn’t that memorable. “The Ambulance” was met with a lukewarm reception by critics, with an average rating of 69% on Rotten Tomatoes. Ticket buyers – 58% of them male and 50% of 35 or older – were more enthusiastic about the film, which received a “A-” CinemaScore. “Ambulance” starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II: Adopted brothers hijack an ambulance and hold its passengers hostage.
“Big-budget action movies were once a bastion of the big screen; just the movie theater [could] “Making these expensive films profitable,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at comScore. “[Those films] They are now finding favor with audiences on streaming platforms, such as Netflix, who have the funds to produce such films.”
At the same time, COVID-19 continues to affect cinema habits. Sure, superhero adventures and video game adaptations can pack up theaters, but some genres don’t resonate with ticket buyers as well as they used to. Action stars like Harrison Ford, Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis, who rode sidecar with Bay in “Armageddon” and recently retired from acting, are no longer the driving force behind their box office wins. As evidenced by current theatrical winners, such as “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “The Batman,” and “Sonic the Hedgehog,” familiar characteristics are the true draws. Horror is another safe bet at the box office, and Bay has recently had more success as a producer, working on the “The Purge” franchise and John Krasinski’s “A Quiet Place” films.
“Today’s audience wants something special every time,” said David A. Gross, director of film consultancy Franchise Entertainment Research. “The bar is now set higher.”
For Universal, “Ambulance” has a rough start into 2022. After kicking off the new year with back-to-back failed films, the female heist “The 355” and the religious drama “Redeeming Love,” the studio put out Jennifer Lopez’s romantic comedy “Marry Me.” The Day and Date on Peacock’s broadcast tape on NBCUniversal, which will likely limit ticket sales at the box office. Holdover’s revenue from Illumination’s stand-up comedy “Sing 2,” which has grossed $162 million since December, has been a bright spot. A stacked summer slate, including “Jurassic World Dominion,” “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” and Jordan Peele’s horror movie “Nope,” look to reverse those fortunes.
Just don’t expect to save Michael Bay-style action epics. Maybe those days are in the rearview mirror.
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