The Last Duel (Ridley Scott, 2021)

[Glowingwabbit]

Ridley Scott Blames Millennials for ‘The Last Duel’ Box Office Failure

Another old man who doesn't understand the age range of millennials. He should be blaming the marketing for the film.

It's also funny because the majority of people I see on social media actually talking about the film are in that millennial age range. (edit: I see knives already notice this too)

[soundchaser]

Millennials also aren't on Facebook anymore, by and large, but whatever lets you complain about the young people.

[Toland's Mitchell]

I also think Scott is missing the mark. I think he makes a fair point that shorter attention spans among younger viewers are impacting overall box office earnings. However, IIRC, millennials made up the highest demographic of those who saw The Last Duel in theaters. Other sources suggested the real problem was the Gen Xers and older crowd, who were a target demographic but are still the demographic most reluctant to return to theaters during this pandemic. I believe I read somewhere that the 35-and-older crowd made up only around 10-15% of the theater audiences for this film. Looking to the past, Kingdom of Heaven (2005), another Scott-directed medieval epic, also didn't fare well at the box office. Scott can't blame millennials for that because many millennials weren't old enough at the time to see R-Rated movies without a parent. This demonstrates a larger underlying cause is the possibility that big-budget historical epics simply don't have the wide appeal they used to.

[Never Cursed]

I'm technically Gen Z and this is the only movie by Scott I've seen that I would go so far as to call "good" - what category do I fall into?

[Glowingwabbit]

I didn't even go see Memoria when it was in Boston, so going to a theater to see a film by a director's who imo hasn't made an interesting movie in my lifetime is just not even under consideration.

[therewillbeblus]

I actually laughed out loud when I read that he thought Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were going to appeal to the younger crowd (as others have said, gen z mistaken for gen y) and bring in viewership. Does he have any pulse on the zeitgeist?

[DarkImbecile]

Of course he doesn’t! He’s eighty-three years old!

[cdnchris]

I actually laughed out loud when I read that he thought Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were going to appeal to the younger crowd (as others have said, gen z mistaken for gen y) and bring in viewership. Does he have any pulse on the zeitgeist?

I'm sure the question was asked rhetorically, but no, he's clearly out of touch if he thinks Damon and Affleck (in their 50s now, right?) still appeals to the young'uns the same way they did almost two-and-a-half decades ago. He's also obviously using millenial as a blanket term for anyone not a boomer or a gen-x'er.

I actually had no idea the movie was even out, so the marketing clearly sucked. While I go through some social media, I still don't recall seeing any ads for it, and I'm old and still watch satellite TV, yet didn't see any ads for it on there, too. Though, to be fair, I had no interest in seeing it anyways, so it wouldn't have helped. The Gucci film I might see, though, and I get some sense around more interest behind that one, so who knows, maybe that one will do well.

[tenia]

I'd also suppose that it's unlikely the movie's marketing on TV and in theaters was particularly effective because, well, look at the ongoing context. So if it wasn't for Twitter and al. visibility, it's likely many people who ended up seeing the movie wouldn't have done so otherwise.
In my case, I don't think I saw any marketing for the movie outside of the internet (mostly seen on my phone) except a few posters once the movie was out.

So... I guess Scott just looks like an old guy trying to blame an easy target for his stuff not working as well as he hoped.

[therewillbeblus]

Yeah it was rhetorical and in jest

[Mr Sausage]

Might also be the case that Scott is wary of burning any bridges with Disney, so he’s witholding his real feelings and deflecting blame onto a group he doesn’t care about offending.

But the biggest head scratcher for me is that he claims to’ve never had any regrets about the finished product of any film he’s made, and then in the same breath mentions Blade Runner(!).

[therewillbeblus]

Plus there’s Kingdom of Heaven and probably other(?) films he’s made where he fought to release a DC. So yeah, out of touch with both the outside world and, seemingly, himself

[swo17]

Well I would watch House of Gucci if it starred Olivia Rodrigo instead of Lady Grandma

[willoneill]

Ridley Scott will never admit to finding fault in any of his own films, because if you've ever listened to a Ridley Scott commentary (and I've listened to them all except for the G.I. Jane laserdisc track), you'd find out quickly that he is easily one of the most openly arrogant filmmakers there is. And I say this as an unabashed Ridley Scott fan - who loved The Last Duel!

[domino harvey]

I kinda want to see this, but I imagine most viewers who do were also in my same frame of mind: I don't want to go to a theatre right now, and certainly a long film about ye olde rape and retribution is not something that draws me into a seat right now even if I could be tempted. I can wait for when I can watch it at home. I'm sure they would have been better off making a deal with a streamer if they were really counting on eyes in front of this right now

[therewillbeblus]

Well I would watch House of Gucci if it starred Olivia Rodrigo instead of Lady Grandma

I know this is a joke, but I want to see your movie, and make it a musical while we're at it

[Monterey Jack]

[insert Grampa SImpson yelling at cloud pic here]

[Monterey Jack]

I actually laughed out loud when I read that he thought Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were going to appeal to the younger crowd (as others have said, gen z mistaken for gen y) and bring in viewership. Does he have any pulse on the zeitgeist?

Reminds me of an episode of Roseanne from the 90s, where Dan's mother (I think), refers to a teenage boy as being "Like that Fonzie fellow".

[flyonthewall2983]

Ridley Scott will never admit to finding fault in any of his own films, because if you've ever listened to a Ridley Scott commentary (and I've listened to them all except for the G.I. Jane laserdisc track), you'd find out quickly that he is easily one of the most openly arrogant filmmakers there is. And I say this as an unabashed Ridley Scott fan - who loved The Last Duel!

And why not. I haven’t heard him really trash anyone besides Harvey Weinstein, and he has managed to have a mostly consistent quality to his work that at least makes me interested in whatever he does next. I haven’t seen them all but I should make the effort at some point because I always take something away from anything he does.

[willoneill]

Don't get me wrong, I’m not criticizing him. I find his public arrogance oddly refreshing, to be honest. All I’m saying is people shouldn’t expect any humility if you ask him why a particular film didn’t succeed.

[flyonthewall2983]

I didn’t think you were. But humility is a double-edged blade sometimes and I think defending his film against whatever reason is in his head is better then just shrugging it off to something else. Blaming the potential audience itself is never pleasant but I’d rather he be proud of the work then the box office. Plus he has a pleasant cantankerous nature as opposed to Eastwood, who even as a big fan of as I am, should start thinking about hanging up the spurs.

It can’t be ignored that he has another film about to come out, too. Even a living leg-end like him surely still feels the pressure behind doing the best he can to not just promote the new work, but himself. In rare cases like this it’s easy to understand that the hubris factor is the best defense in the midst of not just hyping up for box office but we’re at the point where the O word is starting to be thrown around a bit more seriously, and there honestly isn’t a better director doing studio films his age that hasn’t won Best Director yet.

[domino harvey]

Scott is currently ranked 14th in Gold Derby’s aggregate predix, and not for this. I’d say the chances of any recognition this year for Scott are pretty slim

[Matt]

His last best chance was with The Martian, which got 7 Oscar nominations including Best Picture but no nomination for directing (even though he did get a DGA nomination). Whatever kind of film an Oscar film is these days, Scott is just not making them, and I don’t think a Napoleon origin story, another Alien prequel, and Gladiator 2 are going to get him any closer.

[therewillbeblus]

Napoleon with Phoenix just might

[flyonthewall2983]

I can see Apple push hard for that like they surely will for the Scorsese film. Whether or not the Academy bites is another issue.