Leonardo DiCaprio’s movies have grossed nearly $7 billion at the worldwide box office over the course of his illustrious career. He’s considered one of the last great movie stars – not just a permanent A-lister, but one who is expected to cover the cost of his salary and then some on a given opening weekend – and DiCaprio says the box office metric is as crucial as ever.
On the road promoting his Paul Thomas Anderson epic “One Battle After Another,” DiCaprio caught up with Variety to discuss the importance of movie ticket sales in a landscape thrown off balance by unvetted streaming data and social engagement.
We asked DiCaprio if he thinks box office numbers still matter in the new world.
“I think there’s just an inundation of content and so much production going on now — which is a good thing, obviously. But I think box office is important because it means people are in the seats going to theater, going to have that communal experience,” said DiCaprio, sitting for interviews with his “One Battle” costar Benicio del Toro.
The Oscar winner said his latest was “uniquely crafted and specialized” to the moviegoing experience.
“I mean, Paul shot this movie in Vista Vision — cameras that have rarely been used since the early ‘60s. He wants people to have that immersive experience and make an action film that’s unexpected, tactile, realistic and something that is probably a lot different than what we’ve been saturated with. In that respect, box office is very important,” he said.
Anderson inspires cult-like devotion from cinephiles and Hollywood’s power set, but the director’s commercial track record is another story. “One Battle” is surely the highest budgeted film Anderson’s ever made – $130 million for production, on the low end of a range of reported figures – which places pressure on the film to earn big around the world to cover its cost. Variety reported Wednesday that the film will open this weekend to around $20 million to $25 million.
“I would only hope that people go out to the theater and experience it the way it’s meant to be seen,” DiCaprio concluded.
The film has euphoric reviews thus far, and was instantly tipped as a frontrunner in multiple Oscar categories when the film premiered earlier in September. DiCaprio plays Bob, a revolutionary in hiding with his teen daughter (Chase Infiniti) after his activist group the French 75 disbands in chaos. In the shadow of a former lover (Teyana Taylor) and under the protection of an ultra-chill revolutionary in arms (del Toro), DiCaprio is swept up in a world of violence and revenge — to say nothing of the terrifying oddball military colonel (Sean Penn) out for blood.
DiCaprio’s last theatrical opening was the Oscar contender “Killers of the Flower Moon,” directed by Martin Scorsese. That went on to earn 10 Academy Award nominations, and made $158 million at the worldwide box office, on a reported $200 million production budget (before marketing costs).
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