The Book Of Clarence Is 2024's First Big Box Office Bust
The MLK holiday weekend proved to be surprisingly fruitful at the box office thanks to strong showings from both the "Mean Girls" movie musical and Jason Statham's new beat-em-up, "The Beekeeper." Unfortunately, they can't all be winners and Sony Pictures' new comedic Biblical epic "The Book of Clarence" faltered in its debut. It now has the distinction of being the first true theatrical disappointment of 2024.
Directed by Jeymes Samuel, the film opened to just $2.5 million over the weekend, with that number growing to $3 million when accounting for the Monday holiday, per The Numbers. It placed 10th on the charts, barely squeaking into the top 10 sandwiched between a pair of holdovers in the forms of "The Boys in the Boat" ($3.4 million) and "The Iron Claw" ($2.4 million). A rough start, to be certain. And yes, certain parts of the U.S. are experiencing terrible winter weather, which impacted moviegoing for sure. But would perfect weather have been enough to move the needle in a meaningful way, given this result? I kindly doubt it.
The film (which you can watch the trailer for right here) centers on Clarence, who is seeking a better life for himself and his family. Captivated by the power and glory of the rising messiah and his apostles, Clarence aims to carve his own path of divinity. The stacked A-list cast is led by LaKeith Stanfield ("Knives Out") but also includes James McAvoy ("Split"), Omar Sy ("Jurassic World"), Anna Diop ("Titans"), RJ Cyler ("Power Rangers"), David Oyelowo ("Selma"), Alfre Woodard ("Luke Cage"), Caleb McLaughlin ("Stranger Things"), and Benedict Cumberbatch ("Doctor Strange"). Sadly, in this case, the star power didn't do much to help the bottom line.
A faith-based movie without an audience
Critics were a little mixed on the film overall and it carries a so-so B CinemaScore. (You can read /Film's 7 out of 10 review right here.) It's by no means a critical disaster or anything like that, but the reviews weren't effusive enough to get people talking about it. Word-of-mouth buzz figures to be minimal to non-existent in the coming weeks, which is bad news for Legendary (which produced the film with Sony distributing) as the film carries a reported $40 million budget, not accounting for marketing. Making matters worse is the fact that American-made Christian religious tales tend to have somewhat limited appeal overseas.
One thing we learned in 2023 is that faith-based cinema can put a lot of butts in seats, with movies like "Jesus Revolution" and even the theatrical release of the TV series "The Chosen" becoming relative hits. No movie proved it better than "Sound of Freedom" though, with the controversial film taking in a whopping $249 million worldwide, including $184 million domestically. But when these films work, they tend to be pretty straightforward attempts at reaching the target audience. "The Book of Clarence" attempted to do something a little different.
Samuel, who also directed Netflix's "The Harder They Fall," tried to take a familiar story and put a unique spin on it. With a hip-hop soundtrack and a comedic tone on display in the trailers, it was clear that the average ticket buyer for something like "Sound of Freedom" wasn't necessarily going to see this as being equally appealing. Credit to Legendary and Sony for trying something interesting here. The only hope now is that the film can catch on once it hits VOD and streaming.
"The Book of Clarence" is currently in theaters.