Paul Thomas Anderson’s pro-terrorist One Battle After Another has flopped at the box office.
After three full weekends in release, this remake of the racist masterpiece Birth of a Nation (1915) has grossed just $55 million domestic and $84 million overseas, which brings its worldwide total to a pathetic $138 million.
Battle, one of the most amoral movies ever released since, well, Birth of a Nation (1915), cost a reported $150-$175 million to produce and at least $70 million to promote. Just to break even, this sporadically entertaining, sporadically dull piece of pro-terrorist propaganda that lavishes praise on the domestic terror group Antifa will have to gross $500 million globally. From the looks of it, Battle will be lucky to hit $300 million.
The far-left entertainment media have pulled every trick in the book to pretend Battle is not a flop. Even as it peters out everywhere well below break-even, we’re told to look at its “remarkable hold.” As in, One Battle After Another only dipped 41 percent compared to the previous weekend! Yeah, well, even with that “remarkable hold,” it still only grossed $6.7 million in weekend three.
Worldwide, Battle “held” to just a 32 percent drop. But, uh, still only grossed $15 million in 77 markets.
You see, a “remarkable hold” doesn’t mean much when you’re starting out with an unimpressive opening weekend.
I’m not sure what Warner Bros. was thinking when it threw more than $200 million at Paul Thomas Anderson. If you look at his last four movies, no one went to see them, and those who did might have been impressed with the filmmaking, but if they tell the truth, were probably mostly bored with the navel-gazing:
- The Master (2012): $28.7 million global box office
- Inherent Vice (2014): $14.8 million global box office
- Phantom Thread (2017): $52.2 million global box office
- Licorice Pizza (2021): $33.2 million global box office
If the free world was populated with 100 million snooty film lovers, that $200 million might have made sense. Fortunately, the world is made up of Normal People, and Normal People don’t want to watch even Leonardo DiCaprio in a movie that says political terrorism is a virtue, deporting people who broke into our country is racist, and white people are an inferior and evil race.
Battle will probably win a bunch of Oscars from an increasingly unstable and hateful left-wing Hollywood—a fascist community that would apparently like to see more real-life violence directed at those of us who disagree with them. Still, any Oscar wins for Battle will only be another MAGA victory. Whenever the left exposes its hatred of Normal People in such a naked way — which is what Battle does and any Oscar wins would do — it just drives more people to our side, to the good guys.
But make no mistake, don’t buy the spin. Battle is a flop and would still be if it had cost half as much.
P.S. If you want to see a movie that looks at present-day America in a moral, entertaining, unbiased, and thoughtful way, check out Ari Aster’s Eddington.
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.
