Napoleonearned yet another victory, but its well-deserved win still didn’t generate enough money to make a profit — not yet anyway. Nevertheless, director Ridley Scott’s historical drama has passed a major milestone and become only the 25th film to surpass $200 million at the worldwide box office this year. According toBox Office Mojo,Napoleonhas brought in $200.7 million, which ranks it No. 25 among 2023’s top-grossing films, just behind No. 24The Marvels’$205.6 million.
Barbiestill sits at No. 1 in 2023 with $1.44 billion, whileThe Super Mario Bros. Movielays claim to No. 2 with $1.36 billion. Obviously,Napoleonisn’t content with ranking No. 25 on that list, and the film needs to make somewhere between $300 million and $400 million more just to break even! With a bloated production budget of reportedly $200 million, to say nothing of advertising and marketing costs,Napoleonis still a long way from making a profit.
Unfortunately forNapoleon, the film opened in theaters back on November 22, so it’s already been in cinemas for well over a month. Complicating matters is that nasty 58% score on the ole Tomatometer, which comes courtesy of a litany of bad reviews from the critics.
Related:Ridley Scott’s Historical Inaccuracies Are the Least Egregious in a Big-Time Biopic
Napoleon Likely Won’t Turn a Profit
DirectorRidley Scott’sNapoleonis in danger of not turning a profit during its theatrical release. The historical drama doesn’t have the firepower to post another $300 million to $400 million, while it’s in cinemas, and that’s approximately the range the movie must shoot for to avoid that nasty red ink. Making matters worse, as of Thursday, December 28,Napoleonis only playing in 1,002 theaters domestically.
The film made $765,000 last weekend, which equates to a per-theater average of only $763. By comparison,No. 1Aquaman and the Lost Kingdommade an average of $7,474 at each theater, andNapoleonranked No. 13 at the domestic box office from December 22 through December 24. When you tack on Christmas Day and round it up to a four-day weekend,Napoleonmanages to make just over $1 million over the holiday.
Napoleonwill likely drop well below 1,000 theaters this coming weekend, though. The weekend prior to Christmas, Scott’s film was playing in just over 2,600 theaters here at home, but that number dwindled to the aforementioned 1,002 venues a week later. And withWonka,Aquaman 2, MigrationandThe Color Purpleall hogging the limelight,Napoleonwill have to accept the fact that it will likely lose money rather than make any during its theatrical run. Meanwhile, fans who haven’t seen the film yet can check outMovieWeb’sNapoleonreviewright now.
