A Russell Crowe Movie You Haven't Heard Of Made The Top 10 At The Box Office
20-02-2024
Russell Crowe has long been beloved Oscar winner with movies like Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind under his belt, but recently has entered into another phase in which he appears simply to be having fun, appearing in "Unhinged" and The Pope's Exorcist as recent credits. Now with "Land of Bad", his latest action movie which seemingly went under-recognized still managed to crack top ten at box offices over its debut weekend -- thanks to Crowe himself as well as both Hemsworth brothers!
Director William Eubanks' "Land of Bad" earned $1.8 million over its opening weekend from approximately 1,100 screens, giving a per-screen average of more than $1,600 and surpassing "Mean Girls" ($1.1 million) as No. 1. While that figure might not break even at first glance, The Avenue still managed to secure enough tickets sales that theaters were delighted by selling those tickets despite 2024 having seen disappointing box office returns so far. Regardless, anything helps!
Written and directed by David Frigerio, "Deep In" centers around an elite extraction team ambushed deep within enemy territory. Rookie officer Kinney (Liam Hemsworth), outnumbered but determined not to leave anyone behind is guided by Air Force drone pilot Reaper (Crowe), with Luke Hemsworth from "Westworld" joining this family affair as Luke is also cast - making this movie truly family friendly - perhaps Chris could come join in? (Though that likely wouldn't happen).
Land of Bad is an under-appreciated action movie.
"Land of Bad" wasn't expected to do big numbers. Produced on a modest sub-20 million budget from a smaller distributor and without major marketing support for release (such as Redbox or any other avenues), its primary audience may well have been VOD/streaming services as well as DVD sales; perhaps that explains its low profile; no major campaign was run against its release but nevertheless audiences seem drawn in!
Crowe has emerged as an unexpected box office hero over recent years. "Unhinged" was among the earliest new movies released following pandemic and helped restore theater attendance after an especially difficult period; last year's "The Pope's Exorcist" also proved unexpectedly popular both theatrically and via streaming services like Netflix; its sequel is currently underway creating yet another horror franchise!
Crowe may no longer lead high-class, Best Picture-winning movies; perhaps his time to shine may have come and gone; nonetheless, for now he remains relevant and active, taking roles in blue-collar flicks like Dead Poet's Society or Slumdog Millionaire.
Now in theaters is "Land of Bad."