The Tonight Show writer Chase Mitchell shared his disdain for moviegoers in the wake of The Walt Disney Company’s most recent film, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, bombing at the box office.
(L-R): Noa (played by Owen Teague), Soona (played by Lydia Peckham), and Anaya (played by Travis Jeffery) in 20th Century Studios’ KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2024 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Reacting to a report from Variety declaring that Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes only earned “$3.4 million on Friday, down 50% from its $6.8 million last Friday,” Mitchell declared, “I think it’s time to accept that a large part of the moviegoing public sucks s**t.”
Chase Mitchell on X
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Next, he attempted to justify his attack on moviegoers by sharing screenshots of the Rotten Tomatoes scores for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, The Fall Guy, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, and Babes.
He mocked, “‘But movies suck now.'”
Chase Mitchell on X
X user FakeAngelof then informed him, “Movies can be highly rated, that doesn’t mean people want to see them. Last year was a horrible year for movies, because most sucked.”
Mitchell responded, “Last year was one of the best years for film in the history of the medium.”
Chase Mitchell on X
Mitchell would later reveal, specifically, who he thinks are “s**t.” One X user wrote, “Stop with the female leads in action movies. Stop shoving the message down movie goers throats. Stop the preaching and left wing propaganda. Make movies entertaining again and tone down the cgi. Get biden out of office so prices can come down.”
Mitchell responded, “oh hey I found the guy who sucks s**t.”
Chase Mitchell on X
According to The-Numbers, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes has only grossed $126.6 million at the domestic box office and another $172 million internationally for a worldwide gross of $298.6 million. The film reportedly has an estimated production budget of $160 million. That means the film needs to gross at least $400 million to break even.
The film has been in theaters for three weekends and has seen its domestic box office grosses decline by 56% in its second weekend and 47% in its third weekend. The movie clawed in $58.4 million in its opening weekend. It fell to $25.4 million in its second weekend. It then fell to $13.4 million in its third weekend.
(Left): Raka (played by Peter Macon) in 20th Century Studios’ KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2024 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Box office analyst OMB Reviews notes the film’s box office performance still has the movie in the red by over $100 million currently and he predicts it will likely end up losing around $75 million.
“Based on how it’s doing in its holds week to week, I think probably north of $75 million is likely. Maybe in a best case scenario it loses $50 [million]. Either way though, this is not a huge hit. This is not the film that people were saying, ‘Oh man! This movie is making so much money.’ When you look at the actual data, when you break it down by the individual film and where it’s actually getting released. That is actually not the case,” he shared.
What do you make of Chase Mitchell’s comments regarding the moviegoing audience?
