Michael Bay's new film Ambulance underperformed in its opening weekend, and the box office numbers suggest it will be Bay's lowest-grossing film.
Michael Bay's new film Ambulance may have a difficult time at the box office. In the 90s and early 2000s, Bay was one of the most profitable action directors in the world with movies like The Rock, Armageddon, and Pearl Harbor all making it to the top 10 highest-grossing films of their respective years. In 2007 the director helmed Transformers and stayed with the franchise for over a decade to massive box office success until the fifth film, Transformers: The Last Knight underperformed at the box office.
His first film after the Transformers franchise, Six Underground, was released straight to Netflix but the director makes his grand return to cinemas with Ambulance, a remake of a Danish film of the same name. The movie stars Jake Gyllenhall, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Eiza González. While originally slated for release on February 18, 2022, the movie was delayed to April 8, 2022. Despite some relatively positive reviews compared to the rest of the Bay's filmography, the movie was easily beat by Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in its opening weekend as that movie broke records for a video game film, grossing $71 million domestically.
It appears Ambulance is going to struggle to turn a profit. According to Variety, the film brought in $8 million in its opening weekend domestically to land at number 4 at the box office behind Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Morbius, and The Lost City. The budget of the film was $40 million, but that does not factor in marketing costs. While the film did better internationally, grossing $22.4 million and boosting the film’s global total to $31.1 million, it is suggested the movie will have difficulty turning a profit. David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research, said:
"There used to be a lot of these movies at the theater. But today’s audiences want something special every time — the bar is set higher now. At a cost of $40 million-plus marketing, the film is unlikely to recover costs, even with better numbers overseas and good ancillary value on Peacock."
Ambulance will face continued difficulty at the box office as next week sees the opening of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore and the following weekend sees the release of The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, The Northman, and The Bad Guys. Combine that with the continued strong word of mouth of Everything Everywhere All At Once and it seems Ambulance could easily get lost in the shuffle. The other major factor is the fact that Ambulance is set to stream on Peacock 45 days after its theatrical release, so some audiences may just be waiting to see the film at home.
Currently, Michael Bay's lowest-grossing film is 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, which brought in $69.4 million worldwide against a budget of $50 million. At the rate Ambulance is going, it may become Bay's lowest-grossing movie and a true sign of how much the blockbuster landscape has shifted. Once the director could turn an any concept into a blockbuster event film, but it seems like this time audiences aren't interested.
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