‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Global Box Office Nears Major Milestone

The Big Picture

• Martin Scorsese’s film Killers of the Flower Moon has grossed over $145 million globally, despite the significant number of theaters it lost to new releases.
• The film’s success can’t be measured by traditional standards, as it is essentially a streaming movie with a wide theatrical release used as advertising for its eventual debut on Apple TV+.
• Killers of the Flower Moon is a dark and grim movie that focuses on a forgotten chapter in American history, which may have contributed to its unique commercial performance.

After losing a significant number of theaters to make room for a slew of new releases, director Martin Scorsese’s epic “anti-true crime” film Killers of the Flower Moon grossed over $5 million globally this weekend — its fifth — as it nears the end of its theatrical run. Based on David Grann‘s non-fiction book, the film has grossed $63 million domestically so far, and another $82 million from overseas markets, for a cumulative global haul of $145 million.

While this is nowhere near the $200 million-plus that the movie is said to have cost, Killers of the Flower Moon can’t be graded by the same yardstick as most other films. For one, it’s essentially a streaming movie that received the widest-ever theatrical release, playing at its peak in over 3,500 domestic theaters. Apple is effectively using this theatrical run as advertising for the film’s eventual debut on its Apple TV+ platform. Second, the film clocks in at over three and a half hours, which significantly reduces the number of shows that can be squeezed into a day. Thirdly, Killers of the Flower Moon is probably the most grim mainstream movie of the year, focusing on a dark chapter in American history, and spotlighting a forgotten story about the systemic mass murder of Osage people in the early 1920s.

‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Is A Major Awards Season Contender

Uniting Scorsese’s long-time collaborators Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, who star alongside Lily Gladstone, the film received stellar reviews from critics — it sits at a “fresh” 93% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes — but also generated some amount of controversy about Scorsese’s decision to present it from the point-of-view of the villains. Both Gladstone and Scorsese have addressed these complaints with complex answers, but it would be a stretch to assume that this in any way affected the film’s commercial performance.

Scorsese’s last film, the gangster epic The Irishman, also cost over $200 million and was released on Netflix in 2019. It earned 10 nominations at the Academy Awards but didn’t win in a single category. This time, all the promotional burden fell on the legendary filmmaker’s shoulders, because the cast was unable to participate in publicity during the SAG-AFTRA strike. They have, however, since appeared at Academy screenings and given interviews in the lead-up to the awards race, where Killers of the Flower Moon is expected to be a major contender. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

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