Paramount Pictures kicked off 2025 with a cinematic misfire, as Better Man, the studio’s highly ambitious (and ludicrously expensive) musical biopic about British recording artist Robbie Williams, crashed and burned at the box office.
British recording artist Robbie Williams – YouTube, Paramount Pictures
Despite its…unique premise of having Williams portrayed as a CGI chimpanzee—a decision that has baffled audiences and critics alike—the film failed to attract significant attention domestically or internationally.
The movie debuted to a dismal $1.1 million across 1,291 theaters in the U.S., landing in 13th place on the domestic box office charts. Even in the United Kingdom, where Robbie Williams enjoys immense popularity, Better Man managed only $1.9 million in its opening weekend. The global opening tally was a disappointing $10 million.
This wouldn’t normally be newsworthy, as musical biopics typically have small price tags and losses are minimal. But this one is a whole different story.
Robbie Williams as a Chimpanzee in the musical biopic Better Man – YouTube, Paramount Pictures
The financial stakes for Better Man are staggering. With an independently financed production budget of $110 million, coupled with Paramount’s $25 million acquisition cost, the movie is now on track to lose tens of millions of dollars. It’s a sobering outcome for a project that many thought would at least attract curiosity.
So, what went wrong? The most glaring issue seems to be the creative decision to depict Williams as a CGI chimpanzee, while the rest of the cast remains human. The film’s technical achievements might explain the exorbitant budget, but they also may have alienated potential audiences. What could have been a heartfelt exploration of the singer’s life was overshadowed by a gimmick that audiences simply weren’t ready to embrace.
Interestingly, critics and early viewers seem to have enjoyed the film, with Better Man earning an impressive 88% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 94% audience score on the platform’s popcorn meter. However, critical acclaim hasn’t translated into ticket sales, highlighting a disconnect between reviewers and general audiences.
Robbie Williams as a Chimpanzee in the musical biopic Better Man – YouTube, Paramount Pictures
Paramount’s misstep with Better Man serves as a cautionary tale about high-risk creative choices and bloated budgets. While the film’s technical ambition may deserve praise, its failure to connect with audiences has left Paramount holding the bag on 2025’s first major flop. For now, the industry is left scratching its head, wondering how this curious chimpanzee biopic swung so wide of the mark.
Are you surprised that Better Man flopped at the box office? Did you even know it existed? And what’s the deal with the chimpanzee!? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!
Wut
If this is what Paramount is serving up these days, why on God’s green earth would SkyDance want to merge with them? Why not just go the hostile takeover route? Because that’s going to be cheaper and faster than dealing with Shari Redstone’s insane demands and SEC bureaucracy.
The dumbest movie one could imagine. It deserves to fail.
I’ve never even heard of Robbie Williams.
Williams is a handsome bloke. So, what do they do? Turn him into a monkey. The Hollywood obsession with ugliness (virtue signalling to chimps?) is why we don’t want to watch new movies anymore. That, and race-swapping. And the left-wing propaganda, too, of course.