The Greatest Showman #1143 - Mixed Emotions

After four weeks of anticipation, following the London premiere of Les Misérables, the media coverage of the fiery debates surrounding the film, the double blessings from the Berlin Film Festival and the Oscars, and the awards season buzz that brewed throughout, Transcendence has yet to replicate the success that Renly has previously achieved.

The film's five-week box office performance still hasn't even broken the $1 million mark.

Objectively speaking, the box office numbers of such works during awards season are not the primary focus. These works are more about impacting the Oscars rather than their earnings. The revenue primarily comes from video rentals, not from theatrical releases—especially in art-house screenings, where profits are essentially nonexistent.

For example, Nicole Kidman's The Rabbit Hole received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress the year before last. Its box office was $1.5 million before the nomination, but it grew to $2.2 million after. Similarly, Heroes earned $2 million prior to its two Oscar nominations and eventually reached $3 million.

For films like Transcendence, the box office is not the primary concern. No one really cares about the production costs unless they are outrageous, and no one expects a box office boom unless a film is nominated for Best Picture.

Transcendence is no exception.

In fact, after its Berlin Film Festival screening, the film's reviews and reputation have already set expectations for the box office. In just five weeks, its cumulative box office has approached $1 million—an achievement that has impressed many.

Tony Kaye, however, has not revealed the film's production or budget figures. Industry estimates suggest that it likely falls between $1 million and $1.5 million, perhaps slightly higher, but remains in that ballpark. Given these estimates, such box office numbers are quite impressive.

For Tony, these numbers are already a success.

But for reporters who eagerly expected Renly's trademark box-office magic, this outcome felt like far from a triumph.

Looking at the box office records of Renly's past films, Buried Alive grossed $52 million, while Crazy Love, despite being the lowest-budgeted project, earned $125 million in North America alone. If you include the global box office, the numbers are even more staggering.

Reporters had come to expect not just good box office numbers but something spectacular—at least a tenfold return on investment. Compared to Renly's usual track record, Transcendence's results were seen as underwhelming, even though the film had received positive reviews and engaged audiences.

After the first week of December, Transcendence continued its slow, methodical rollout.

In the last week of 2012, the film was shown in 49 theaters across five cities in North America, with the screening confined to a select range, allowing word-of-mouth to build gradually. As controversy and debate surrounded the film, its pace remained deliberate, continuing into the new year.

The film's widest release occurred during the fourth week of January, when it screened in 351 theaters for just one week. The following week, it returned to a more modest 298 theaters.

This meant that most moviegoers had limited access to the film unless they were in art-house theater chains. Those who missed it had to wait for the film's eventual release on video.

Transcendence ran in North American theaters for 18 weeks before its official conclusion in early March. The Blu-ray release followed shortly, with rentals and sales giving more people the opportunity to view it.

In total, the film's cumulative North American box office came to $6.98 million. There was no overseas release, as Tony Kaye chose to skip international theatrical distribution and went straight to home video.

The production was profitable early on, with the studio announcing that profits from the box office had already surpassed expectations. Tony also pledged to donate all box office revenue to charity, focusing on education projects in underserved communities, a cause Renly also supported by donating his salary and box office dividends.

For Tony and Renly, financial gain was never the primary goal of making Transcendence.

The film went on to surpass American X-Files as Tony's highest-grossing work as a director, an unexpected turn of events. When American X-Files was released in 1998, it grossed $6.72 million in North America, earning an additional $13 million globally. However, despite a large budget of $20 million, the film failed to be profitable at the time. It later found success in the video rental market, which helped it break even.

While Transcendence didn't have an international release, its early arrival in the DVD rental market generated positive feedback, helping to sustain interest for a long time—this is typical for cult films and works with strong auteur backing.

Despite the Transcendence box office exceeding expectations and achieving profitability, it was still far below Renly's usual level of success. This marked his first significant setback.

Firstly, Renly's streak of five consecutive films crossing the $100 million mark in North America was broken.

Secondly, Transcendence failed to cross the $10 million threshold in North America.

The film's critical reception was mixed. With a media review average of 55%, Rotten Tomatoes scored it 59% fresh with an average rating of 6.0, while IMDb gave it a 7.8 from over 40,000 ratings. While this was still decent, it was far below what was expected.

Undoubtedly, this was a career low for Renly, and a disappointment to many.

The day that many had been waiting for—the day people expected Renly to fail—finally came, but it was met with mixed emotions. After the initial joy and relief, there was a sense of dazedness, loneliness, and disappointment. The era of Renly's dominance seemed uncertain, and the future of the next generation of actors suddenly felt unclear.

This was a complicated moment, filled with conflicting emotions.

Many media outlets that had hoped for Renly's downfall were left with a sense of uncertainty. As the report was published, the concern shifted: with Transcendence's mixed reception and its slow pace at the box office, would Renly be absent from the nominations for the first time this awards season?

Historically, the connection between the Berlin Film Festival and the Oscars has been weak. Winning the Best Actor or Actress award at Berlin doesn't often result in an Oscar win. The last time a Berlin Best Actor winner secured an Oscar was in 2000, when Benicio del Toro won the following year for his role in Traffic. Similarly, Charlize Theron's Best Actress win in Berlin in 2004 was a rare occurrence.

Now, Renly's chances for this year's awards season seemed to be dwindling.

While actors like Joaquin Phoenix (The Master), Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln), and Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook) were being discussed as potential nominees, Renly's name was noticeably absent.

This was the true disappointment: after years of uninterrupted success, Renly's momentum had finally slowed.