Steven Soderbergh‘s Behind the Candelabra, which opened on 5.21.13, wounded up earning $23 million, or two million less than it cost. Not in the U.S. but Europe, where it played briefly.
According to a calculus passed along by costar Matt Damon, it would’ve cost another $25M to market it for a domestic theatrical run. Plus half the revenues (or $12.5 million) would have been pocketed by theatre owners.
This is how Damon laid it out, in any event. HBO saved the day, but without HBO the producers (Gregory Jacobs, Susan Ekins, Michael Polaire) would’ve taken a bath.
“Candelabra Counts“, posted on HE on 5.21.13: “Of all the major directors of the past 20 years, Steven Soderbergh has always seemed the least emotional. So it doesn’t sound like much to call Behind The Candelabra (HBO, 5.26) his most emotional and touching work. And I don’t mean it lightly.
“This HBO movie truly touches bottom and strikes a chord. It’s a sad (but not glum or downish), movingly performed drama about a kind of marriage that begins well and then goes south after five years.
“Richard LaGravanese‘s script is complex, fleshed-out and recognizably human at every turn, and performed with considerable feeling and vulnerability by Michael Douglas (easily the top contender right now for a Best Actor prize) and Matt Damon.”
Joe and Jane Popcorn presumably weren’t all that enthusiastic about Behind the Candelabra because they didn’t want to see a movie that was at least partly about Damon being fucked in the ass by Michael Douglas. It was about much, much more than that, of course, but Joe and Jane can be simplistic and stubborn.
Matt Damon explains why they don’t make movies like they used to. pic.twitter.com/BhWypzcsgQ
— SPENCE, TODD (@Todd_Spence) August 21, 2022