Ron Howard’s ‘In The Heart Of The Sea’ Could Capsize ‘Hunger Games’ Despite Ticket Sales Flop
Ron Howard’s whale tale In the Heart Of The Sea is slated to make millions and could knock the new Hunger Games movie out of the top box office spot, but it will still be a disappointment for Warner Bros.
At a cost of almost $100 million, the studio hoped In the Heart of the Sea would be a box office hit and redeem its recent big budget flops, but the whale tale has so far failed to make much of a splash.
Jeff Bock, a senior box-office analyst, told the Los Angeles Times the film’s release date, a few week before Star Wars, has hamstrung the movie’s prospects for big ticket sales.
“Prospects aren’t big for this film, and if you open a week before ‘Star Wars,’ you’re going to get lost in the shuffle.”
The film is projected to make $12 to $15 million this weekend and has already made $18 million overseas, but those figures fall short of the studio’s hopes for a blockbuster.
Warning: Possible spoilers ahead!
The film tells the real-life story that inspired Herman Melville’s classic novel Moby Dick.
In 1820, a Nantucket whaling ship, the Essex, was attacked and sunk by a humongous white sperm whale off the coast of South America; only a few sailors survived to tell the tale.
One of the sailors made it to port and told everything to Herman Melville who fictionalized it in his classic novel. It was also written about in Nathaniel Philbrick’s recent best selling non-fiction book of the same name.
Ron Howard’s movie not only tells the story of the whale attack, but also explores the brutality of the whaling industry itself. In The Heart of the Sea is told in three parts: the telling of the tale to Melville, the battle with the whale, and the struggle for survival.
The movie has some fantastic shots, especially the fight with the whale, but the story line tends to drift especially after the fight with the whale when the surviving crew drift along in life boats.
The story is told through Herman Melville’s character, played by Ben Whishaw, who convinces the surviving sailor, Tom Holland, to tell his tale for a generous sum 14 years after the attack.
Constructed as a struggle between two men, Captain George Pollard, played by Benjamin Walker, and his first mate Owen Chase, Chris Hemsworth, In the Heart of the Sea struggles to live up to its promise of exploring the big concepts of ambition, capitalism, and greed.
The conflict between Pollard and Chase begins while the ship is still in port and drags on for half the movie, but then abruptly disappears without resolution after the ship spots a pod of whales.
Hemsworth shines best during physical displays of strength, but his interaction with Walker just doesn’t endure either of them to the audience. It’s the film’s struggle to address its own larger ideals that have left fans disappointed in the story and critics frustrated with Ron Howard’s effort at a meta whale tale, according to NPR.
Review: "In the Heart of the Sea" is an engaging and thoughtful adventure https://t.co/qp0sEZHRDz pic.twitter.com/faIv19Qo5d
— Forbes (@Forbes) December 8, 2015
Wrecked by its own grandiose ambition, In the Heart of the Sea is much better seen as a harrowing sea adventure than a retelling of the Melville’s Moby Dick. The classic novel is much better at dealing with the themes of man’s arrogance and his relationship with a vengeful God.
The movie’s failure to live up to its promise is a big disappointment to Warner Bros, which was hoping to redeem itself after two big budget blockbusters; Pan and Our Brand Is Crisis crashed and burned earlier this year.
In the Heart of the Sea is rated PG-13, parents strongly cautioned, with a running time of 121 minutes. The movie is in theaters everywhere.
[Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images]
