ARTNEWSPRESS: While blockbusters like GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and STAR WARS have no trouble getting butts in the seats, other outer space movies like GRAVITY, THE MARTIAN and INTERSTELLAR have proven people are down for all sorts of adventures among the stars. Audiences may once again flock to theaters for the next space movie on the release schedule – James Gray’s AD ASTRA starring Brad Pitt – with current box office estimates placing the movie on track for a solid $20 million opening weekend.
The new space adventure-drama opens three weeks from today after a lengthy production and several release shifts, the most recent being after Disney, now in control of 20th Century Fox, moved the movie from May 24 to a less busy September 20. There ASTRA will deal with the third-weekend business of the upcoming horror blockbuster, IT: CHAPTER TWO, as well as going head-to-head with the Sylvester Stallone action flick, RAMBO: LAST BLOOD (tracking for about $15 million).
While $20 million may not seem like a bank-breaking amount, AD ASTRA doesn’t exactly come with the pricey tag of some other recent space movies. It’s reported $80 million budget is more in line with the nigh-$70 million tag of last year’s drama FIRST MAN than the $100+ million budget of movies like THE MARTIAN, INTERSTELLAR and Sony’s PASSENGERS. But making matters a bit more unsure is the performance of FIRST MAN, which made just $105 million worldwide last Fall despite rave reviews and star Ryan Gosling’s leading role.
Those last two elements are things ASTRA also has going for it at the moment, with Pitt still a major drawing power as July’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD currently sits pretty at almost $250 million worldwide. As for reviews, the Venice Film Festival is currently underway and the first reviews for some of this year’s most anticipated Fall movies are starting to roll in – with ASTRA among the first wave. While meditative space movies won’t win everyone over, the current reviews are raving for ASTRA, calling it an interstellar masterwork that blends action and intellect.
The trailers for AD ASTRA make it look like a sweeping, expansive adventure story with some big action pieces, but James Gray isn’t one to just lean into the action and deliver straight popcorn entertainment. He always digs deep into the more complex angles of the story and the characters — as we saw with LOST CITY OF Z — which could turn away audiences looking for something more straightforward. But still, there’s a gunfight on a moon, so if that doesn’t get audiences in, then perhaps nothing will.
AD ASTRA is in theaters September 20.
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Matt Rooney
