Sony Pictures & Apple Studios’ “Napoleon” is being released on November 22nd, 2023. The 3-day opening weekend tracking has been revealed and it stands to open anywhere between $16M-$21M.
Im not entirely sure if you would call Joaquin Phoenix a box-office draw, the actor’s “Joker” definitely gained him some mainstream fans, but the actual draw for “Napoleon” is the story itself, the famous historical figure still fascinates to this day.
Ridley Scott is a well-known director whose name could be stamped in promo material, a notable selling point having “from the director of Alien, Gladiator and The Martian” stamped on your trailer, but he’s nowhere near a draw like Nolan or Cameron.
Sony and Apple are banking on adult audiences to buy tickets for “Napoleon,” as counter-programming during the holiday season — there won’t be much else for them in November.
Of course, reviews, and word of mouth, will be key in “Napoleon” having some legs at the box-office. It’s a challenging sell — a 157 minute historical epic does not always amount to a boom in tickets sold. As of the publishing of this piece, critics have not yet seen the film and the earliest press screening I’ve heard of takes place on November 13th.
The final trailer for “Napoleon” was released two week ago. It was set to the sounds of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs.” Joaquin Phoenix looks, yet again, eerily disturbed in every frame. It had people buzzing, all we need to know now is just how the good the movie is.
The film was test-screened, I believe, 3 times — the reactions I had originally posted were masterpiece, masterpiece, mixed, mixed and negative. Per the reports, there are six battle scenes in the film and the trailer does have a nice montage of them.