The new biopic, Napoleon, starring Joaquin Phoenix, scored $78 million over the Thanksgiving opening weekend.
Another year, another biopic, but it has been some time since we’ve seen Joaquin Phoenix tackle a large acting job in such a massive film. The film Napoleon was directed by Ridley Scott, who is known for Blade Runner, Alien, and Blackhawk Down, just to name a few. Ridley Scott has had an interesting press run with this film. He has gone on record to say that he didn’t care about the historical inaccuracies of Napoleon in his film. He is even saying that people getting upset about this kind of thing should, “get a life”. As funny as that is, it’s still impressive that the film has made this much money.
As nearly every box office weekend has been this year, it’s been a competition for the top spot. There’s a new Hunger Games and new Trolls film in theaters. Both films are doing very well at the box office, especially the new Hunger Games film.
Also not working in its favor is that the film will be on Apple TV soon. Apple owns the film but decided to have it play in theaters before it got on their streaming service, just like what they have done for Killers of the Flower Moon.
Also, the film has come out around Oscar season, so to speak. So it’ll be interesting to see if Joaquin Phoenix attracts attention for a Best Actor nod. Regardless, this film looks like it’s going to have a great box office run.
It’s going to be Ridley Scott’s redemption run as well. He hasn’t had a super-high-grossing film in a while, and the same goes for Joaquin Phoenix. The last massive film he was in was The Joker, and that was in 2019. Napoleon might also be one of those films that gets a cult following as time goes on. Whether that be on the streaming service Apple TV or if it ends up getting some awards during award season.
