What does âThe Beaverâsâ performance say about Mel Gibsonâs popularity?
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Critics were mixed on Mel Gibsonâs âThe Beaverâ at the start of the weekend â some found it a touching story of mental disassociation; others an ill-fitting mix of the quirky and the dour. Lovers and haters agreed, however, that they sometimes found it difficult to separate the starâs on-screen issues from his real-life ones.
As it turns out, viewers had the same problem â that is, if they even bothered to see the film.
Gibsonâs turn as a depressed toy executive who turns to a puppet for help this weekend took in a dismal $104,000 on 22 screens, a per-screen average of under $5,000. To put that in lay terms, that means that in the markets the Jodie Foster film opened, very few people came out to see it To put that in other lay terms, the average was lower than that for the recent opening of âAtlas Shrugged,â a movie so unpopular it prompted its producer to contemplate retirement.(For those who might wonder if the figures are misleading because âThe Beaverâ opened in only a limited number of theaters, the per-screen metric accounts for that; itâs essentially a measure of a movieâs box-office power adjusted for the size of its release.)
On Sunday, studio Summit was, interestingly, pointing the finger at its film more than its star. Domestic-distribution president Richie Fay told my colleague Amy Kaufman that he didnât think the results were âas much a repudiation of Mel and his personal life as it is about a film with difficult subject matterâ and suggested that a planned expansion later in the month may be more limited than previously thought. âAs it turns out, I think the film is more of an art-house specialty kind of movie than a broader commercial film,â he said.
âThe Beaverâ was no doubt a difficult script, a dark comedy-drama with a tweener tone. Which is why, despite its darling status among Hollywood insiders (the script was atop the industry-sanctioned Black List and Steve Carell was once attached to star), it struggled for years to get made.
But the niche-film argument is also exactly what proves Gibsonâs faded stock. A-list stars elevate art-house movies; they get us to see films we wouldnât have ordinarily seen, from Brad Pitt in âBabelâ on down. A pre-Malibu, pre-Oksana Gibson would have increased the popularity of this movie, especially with a performance as well regarded as his was. The Gibson we have today didnât. It may have even dragged it down.
Gibson supporters might argue that mainstream America will go on to embrace âThe Beaverâ when it opens wider later this month. But the number of instances in which a film struck out with niche audiences and then went on to be a popular hit can be counted on one hand. Fayâs comments suggest that Summit isnât banking on that, either.
Contrarians will also posit that the film was hurt by the lack of promotion on the part of its star, who continues to remain out of sight after last summerâs embarrassing alleged rants against Oksana Grigorieva â though the fact that he didnât believe this a good moment to come back into the public eye itself proves the popularity point.
There are also those whoâll say, as commenters on our sister Company Town blog already have, that this weekend was another case of the media hating on Mel. But it isnât the media that stopped millions of Americans from seeing his movie this weekend. (Some would also say a more commercial action film, the kind weâre used to seeing Gibson in, would help, though he didnât exactly reel âem in with âEdge of Darknessâ â and that was before Oksana-gate.)
The Hollywood executives who donât want to work with Mel â agency honcho Ari Emanuel, to name one whoâs said so publicly â have been accused of unfairness and a lot worse. Commenters accused this blog of worse too when we said after the Oksana tapes came to light that we believed Gibsonâs mainstream career was severely damaged, or even over. Said commenters argued, with varying degrees of nuance, that this was a blinkered view and doesnât reflect the American moviegoer. It turns out the American moviegoer feels pretty much the same way.
Itâs likely that a well-coordinated prime-time apology and perhaps a directorial effort that doesnât require putting Gibsonâs face on a poster could be on the way in the not-too-distant future. That may or may not ingratiate Gibson with a broader public. But after this weekend, is there any evidence left to support the idea that Gibson is a bankable movie star, or that heâll become one again any time soon?
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â Steven Zeitchik
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