By “La La Land” and “Whiplash” filmmaker Damien Chazelle’s lengthy, lavish and divisive old Hollywood epic “Babylon” opened in late 2022 to much fanfare and discussion – and a lot of disinterest.
Reviews were mixed, the film polarizing critics and audiences with a 57% on Rotten Tomatoes and a C+ CinemaScore. What wasn’t mixed was the box-office, the film debuting to just $3.5 million in its opening weekend – one quarter of its projected start.
“Babylon” ultimately made just $15.4 million in North America and a further $48 million overseas for a worldwide total of $63.4 million. Boasting an $80 million production budget and a lavish marketing/promotional campaign, it was estimated the film needed to make $250 million worldwide to break even.
Ultimately it is estimated the movie lost the studio around $87 million. Chazelle himself has stayed quiet since the film’s release with little talk of what he’ll do next. Whatever it is though, he’s aware he won’t get that kind of budget again.
Speaking with the Talking Pictures podcast this week about how things have changed for him following the fall of “Babylon,” he says:
“I’ve kind of had my head in the sand and been sort of busy writing. So, I’ll get a taste of how it’s changed or not [since ‘Babylon’] once I finish this script and try to get it made. I’m in a sort of trepidatious state of mind, but I‘ve no illusions. I’m not going to get a budget of ‘Babylon’ size any time soon, or at least not on this next one.
I guess I’ve learned the hard way that there will be a part of me that’s always anxious regardless of whether the previous one worked or not. But certainly, in financial terms, ‘Babylon’ didn’t work at all.
You try to not have that affect what you’re doing creatively, but, at some level, it can’t help but affect it. But maybe that’s okay? I’m really of mixed mind about it, so I guess I need to try and do what I would have done regardless. And who knows? Maybe I won’t be able to get this one made. We’ll have to wait and see.”
Whatever he does end up doing for what will be his fifth directorial effort, he’s still going to draw a lot of attention.
The post Damien Chazelle Talks The Fall Of “Babylon” appeared first on Dark Horizons.
