Removed From 1,800 Theaters, Brad Pitt’s 94%-Rated Crowd-Pleaser Becomes a Global Box Office Hit

He has covered everything from Marvel to the Oscars, and Marvel at the Oscars. He also writes obsessively about the box office, charting the many hits and misses that are released weekly, and how their commercial performance shapes public perception. In his time at Collider, he has also helped drive diversity by writing stories about the multiple Indian film industries, with a goal of introducing audiences to a whole new world of cinema. 

While A24 is successfully bringing younger audiences to theaters with You Can See Everything, older viewers are continuing to show up for Paramount‘s counter-programmer. The movie in question has delivered an exceptional box-office performance over the last few weeks, and is now on the verge of hitting a massive global milestone. Older audiences tend to take their time when it comes to venturing out for movies, and Paramount has given the new film exactly the kind of theatrical window that would best serve it. The decision to not rush the film out on the PVOD market has paid off, as its solid box-office performance and exceptional audience response will increase awareness ahead of its home-video debut.

The film stars Brad Pitt in the lead role, with David Ayer serving as director. The duo previously worked together more than a decade ago on the fan-favorite World War II movie Fury, which remains hugely popular at home. Pitt is coming off the biggest hit of his career, the sports drama F1, which grossed more than $630 million worldwide. Meanwhile, Ayer has performed a hat trick of crowd-pleasing hits, following two Jason Statham vehicles — The Beekeeper and A Working Man.

Four icons and four completely different ways of walking into trouble.
This is the one you would have been out there, why it fits, and what it would have cost you.

You have never explained yourself and you have never needed to,
because people work out fairly quickly that you are the most capable person in the room
without you ever having to mention it.

• Eastwood built the character out of everything he refused to do, stripping away the
  backstory, the speeches and every bit of reassurance until only the competence was left.
• You keep your own counsel, and while other people occasionally find that unnerving, you
  have never felt any real need to fix it for them.
• The Dollars films work because he genuinely is in it for himself right up until the
  moment he is not, and he never explains that part either.
• You would be gone before anybody got a chance to thank you.

You are the funniest person in most rooms and the most loyal
person in all of them, and you would be genuinely insulted if somebody suggested those two
things were in any tension.

• Doc has no real reason to be in this fight beyond the fact that his friend is in it,
  which is the only reason he has ever needed for anything.
• You lead with wit, and it does a very effective job of hiding how seriously you take the
  handful of people you actually care about.
• Val Kilmer’s performance is the most quoted in the entire genre because the jokes keep
  getting sharper as the situation gets worse.
• You would spend everything you had on this and still describe it as a good week.

You never wanted this job, and you took it anyway because the
alternative was standing there watching somebody less careful do it badly, which is the most
Western reason there has ever been.

• Earp is the reluctant authority figure, a man who came to town specifically to be left
  alone and somehow ended up answerable for all of it.
• You are protective by instinct, so when something goes wrong your first thought is who
  is exposed rather than who is to blame.
• These films understand that keeping order costs far more than breaking it, and that the
  person holding the line almost never gets thanked.
• You would do the whole thing again, and you would complain about it the entire time.

Nobody has ever successfully talked you out of something you had
already decided was right, and a long line of grown adults has found that out the hard way.

• Mattie is the most relentless character in the Western canon and she manages it through
  argument, paperwork and flat refusal rather than a fast draw.
• You have no patience for being managed, so you negotiate, you check the details and you
  turn up exactly when you said you would.
• True Grit is the rare Western where the moral centre is the youngest person on screen
  and every adult around her has to catch up.
• You would get what you came for, and the film is honest about what that takes out of
  you.

Here’s How Much Brad Pitt’s Sleeper Hit Has Grossed at the Box Office

Scott Garfield /© Paramount Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection

Scott Garfield /© Paramount Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection

Scott Garfield /© Paramount Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection

Scott Garfield /© Paramount Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection

Ayer and Pitt’s new movie is the survival thriller Heart of the Beast, which has now completed six full weeks in theaters. During these weeks, the film held on remarkably well in the face of competition. Having opened in 3,435 theaters, it’s now playing in 1,695 theaters nationwide. Despite the significant drop in its theater count, the film has grossed $65 million domestically and more than $180 million worldwide, against a reported budget of $82 million. It remains to be seen if the film can hit the $200 million mark at the global box office in the coming weeks. Heart of the Beast is destined for a robust home-video run thanks to positive reviews and a “Verified Hot” 94% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. The aggregator website’s consensus reads, “A rigorously entertaining adventure story told through a spartan script and memorable set pieces, Heart of the Beast pays rousing tribute to man’s best friend.” Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

Heart of the Beast