If the comedy spy filmArgyllehad been entirely distributed and financed by a major Hollywood studio, the film, which has so far grossed approximately $60 million at the worldwide box office against a reported production cost of $200 million, would be poised to become one of thebiggest box office bombsin history.
Indeed,Argylleis a box-office disaster of epic proportions. However, while the movie was distributed theatrically by Universal Pictures,Argyllewas financed by the film’s director and co-producer, Matthew Vaughn, who then sold the movie to Apple through its Apple Original Films and Apple TV+ subsidiaries for a whopping $200 million.
WhileArgyllecarries a reported production cost of $200 million, this figure represents the price Apple paid to acquire the film, not the film’s actual production cost, which Vaughn stated was comfortably less than $100 million. Moreover, the film’s reported $80 million marketing cost was split equally between Apple and Universal.
If Universal had been solely responsible for the film’s approximately $280 million combined marketing and production cost,Argyllewould have represented a crippling loss for the studio, which instead distributed and marketed the movie in exchange for a distribution fee and very modest downside financial risk. Regardless, asArgyllewas clearly intended to mark thebeginning of a franchise, the film’s box-office failure is a major disappointment for Apple and Universal. Moreover, the film’s box-office failure has fueled speculation over whether Apple should abandon traditional theatrical releases for its upcoming films altogether.
Argylle Is a Franchise Non-Starter
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Argyllestars Bryce Dallas Howard as Elly Conway, a reclusive best-selling spy novelist whose books all feature thefictional spy characterAubrey Argylle, the eponymous hero of Elly’sArgyllebook series. As the film opens, Elly, while traveling by train to visit her parents, is rescued from an attempted kidnapping by Aidan, a real-life spy who informs Elly that Elly is being targeted by various underworld forces precisely because her novels have proven to be uncannily predictive of future events.
Argyllemarks Matthew Vaughn’s first feature directorial outing since the 2021 action spy filmThe King’s Man, the third film installment in theKingsmanfilm series, which has presently grossed nearly $1 billion at the worldwide box office against a combined production cost of almost $300 million, approximately $100 million per film.
Argylle: How the New Matthew Vaughn Film Connects to the Kingsman Movies
The end of Argylle teases a larger universe for the Matthew Vaughn film, and it’s not all that different from his Kingsman franchise.
Amid one of the slowest box-office periods in recent history, the box-office projections forArgylle, which debuted alongside the first three episodes of the Christian drama television seriesThe Chosen, were very modest. In its opening weekend of theatrical release, Vaughn’s moviewas projected to gross between $15 million and $20 million at the domestic box office.
However, whileArgylledebuted in first place at the domestic box office with a gross of approximately $17.5 million, this marked a disastrous opening for the film in relation to its mammoth cost and heralded the movie as being the first big box-office bomb of 2024.
Argylle Was Made for Streaming
IfArgyllehad been a traditional studio release, the film, which has presently grossed approximately $28.8 million at the domestic box office and $31.3 million overseas for a current worldwide total of approximately $60 million, would have to gross roughly $600 million at the worldwide box office just to break even in its theatrical run.
Of course, while Apple doubtlessly hoped thatArgyllewould be a box-office success, Apple’s primary purpose for acquiring the spy comedy was to integrate the film within the company’sApple TV+ streaming serviceas Apple did with the moviesKillers of the Flower MoonandNapoleon, both of which were reportedly acquired for the same $200 million price that Apple paid forArgylle. Unlike a Hollywood studio, a brand-focused, trillion-dollar company like Apple can justify the $200 million figure as an outsized advertising cost for the company’s streaming platform.
However, while Apple was able to negate much of the theatrical losses that were posted byKillers of the Flower MoonandNapoleonthrough the home entertainment realm, where the Oscar-nominated films have performed strongly, the projected theatrical loss forArgylleis so severe that unless it becomes one of the most popular digital film rentals of 2024, it will be virtually impossible for the film to become profitable in its post-theatrical life. Given that the attemptedArgyllecinematic universe is DOA, this also hurts the studio.
Argylle Is a $200 Million Write-Off for Apple
In its second weekend of release,Argylleagain finishedfirst at the domestic box office, ahead of the debuting comedy-horror filmLisa Frankenstein, amid the lowest-grossing domestic box-office weekend of 2024. However, this turned out to be another symbolic victory for the film, which grossed approximately $6.5 million domestically in its sophomore weekend, a drop of 63 percent from its doomed opening weekend.
The box-office failure ofArgylle, which has been plagued by generally negative reviews, has fueled speculation regarding both how much longer Apple will continue to pay $200 million for films that are seemingly destined to be box-office failures and whether Apple should continue to release their acquired films theatrically at all in the future.
Moreover, the poorly-reviewedArgylleseems poised to become as much a branding failure for Apple as it is a box-office disaster. While Apple’s previous theatrical releases,Killers of the Flower MoonandNapoleon, brought considerable ancillary value to Apple through branding credibility and prestige, Vaughn’s latest outing hasn’t amounted to anything more than a $200 million mistake.Argylleis playing in theaters everywhere. Watch the trailer below.
