Can 'Free State of Jones' find a summer audience?
The historical drama is for the most part very different from its current competitors such as the Pixar animated movie 'Finding Dory' and the disaster film 'Independence Day: Resurgence.' Will the fact that it stands out from the crowd help or hurt it?
'Free State of Jones' stars Mahershala Ali (l.) and Matthew McConaughey (r.).
Murray Close/STX Productions/AP
The film 鈥淔ree State of Jones,鈥� a historical drama that stars Matthew McConaughey and tells the true story of a Confederate soldier who led a group of fighters against the South, comes to movie theaters on Friday. Will it find an audience among the summer blockbusters?
The film also stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Keri Russell, and Mahershala Ali.
The movie will be going up against such recent box office winners as the Pixar animated film 鈥淔inding Dory鈥� and the comedy 鈥淐entral Intelligence鈥� as well as the disaster movie 鈥淚ndependence Day: Resurgence鈥� and the thriller 鈥淭he Shallows,鈥� both of which also open this weekend.
Compared to the large-scale destruction of, for example, 鈥淚ndependence Day: Resurgence,鈥� a Civil War historical drama could look somewhat staid. How often do studios release these kinds of movies in wide release (rather than limited) during the summer?聽
It can work. The Revolutionary War film 鈥淭he Patriot,鈥� for example, became a box office hit after being released in June 2000, finding an audience against movies such as 鈥淭he Perfect Storm鈥� and the animated movie 鈥淐hicken Run.鈥� Similarly, movies like the 2011 film 鈥淭he Help,鈥� a 1960s-set story, and the 2013 Lee Daniels聽film "The Butler,鈥� about a White House butler serving through the decades, became hits, though 鈥淗elp鈥� had the fan base of a massive bestseller behind it and 鈥淏utler鈥� had the attraction of a star-studded cast.聽
Industry observers are predicting 鈥淛ones鈥� may have a tough time of it, however, possibly because of poor reviews so far. 鈥淭he treatment is pious and stiff-jointed enough to leave you wondering what a two-hour-and-19-minute drama that never begins to attain the moral urgency and fascination of something like 鈥楪lory鈥� or 鈥�12 Years a Slave鈥� is doing being released in the middle of the summer,鈥� writes of "Jones." 鈥淏ox-office prospects don鈥檛 exactly look rousing, since the film itself simply isn鈥檛 rousing enough.鈥澛�
agrees, writing, " 'The Free State of Jones' may not even make this weekend鈥檚 top five [at the box office].... Reviews are still rolling in on the film ... but its current Rotten Tomatoes score is an abysmal 0 percent.鈥澛�
As of press time, the Rotten Tomatoes score is 15 percent, but that鈥檚 still the lowest of movies opening this weekend, which include 鈥淚ndependence Day: Resurgence,鈥� 鈥淭he Shallows,鈥� and 鈥淪wiss Army Man.鈥�