“Steve Jobs” didn’t just bomb this weekend, it BOMBED. Although director Danny Boyle’s biopic sits in nearly 2500 theaters and was predicted to clear around $12 million, according to Deadline, by Monday the $30 million film (closer to $60 million with distribution costs) will bottom out at $7 million.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
Not even close.
First there was the pedigree: an Oscar-winning director, an Oscar-winning screenwriter, and a biopic subject who is also a national brand.
Then there is the track record: just five years ago “The Social Network,” a similar film about a similar subject written by the same Aaron Sorkin, opened to $22.4 million. On top of that, in limited release, “Steve Jobs” was nearly breaking records.
The good juju was apparently broken when one of the film’s stars, Seth Rogen, the guy who was supposed to provide some box office insurance, launched a profanity-laced attack against Dr. Ben Carson, an attack many saw as race-based against the black Republican presidential candidate.
Two weeks ago, just as the film’s public relations campaign was gearing up for its national release (and Oscar grab), Rogen fired off a hate-tweet, “Fuck you @realBenCarson.” Rogen claimed he was angry at Carson for suggesting German Jews would have been able to better resist the Nazis had the government not confiscated their firearms in advance of the Holocaust.
The backlash against Rogen and “Steve Jobs” was immediate and intense. Many people used their social media accounts to call for a boycott of the film.
Just six days ago, Rogen doubled down.
The racism charge against Rogen is not without merit. Carson is a black Republican, Canadian Rogen is a white liberal. Going back to the days of slavery, the KKK, and Jim Crow, white Democrats have attacked and attempted to intimidate black people who “don’t think right,” who defiantly stand up for their civil rights and threaten the Democrat power structure.
Democrats and their DC media allies vehemently disagree with Carson’s strong stance in favor of his Second Amendment civil rights. While Democrats can no longer use German Shepherds and fire hoses like their ideological brethren did 50 years, today they use social media to destroy black people who stray from the Liberal Thought Plantation.
With Emily Blunt’s “Sicario,” “Steve Jobs” is now the second film this month to under-perform in the wake of one of its left-wing stars hurling partisan insults.
This post has been updated.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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