Latest news with #BarryLevinson
Forbes
3 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Robert De Niro Dud ‘The Alto Knights' Gets Max Streaming Premiere Date
Robert De Niro in "The Alto Knights." The Alto Knights— Robert De Niro's crime thriller that flopped in theaters — will soon look for a new audience on streaming on Max. Rated R, The Alto Knights opened in theaters on March 21 before shifting to digital streaming via premium video on demand on April 11. De Niro plays identical twins in The Alto Knights, which was directed by Barry Levinson. The film also stars Debra Messing, Cosmo Jarvis, Kathrine Narducci and Michael Rispoli. The official summary for The Alto Knights reads, 'The film follows two of New York's most notorious organized crime bosses, Frank Costello (De Niro) and Vito Genovese (De Niro), as they vie for control of the city's streets. "Once the best of friends, petty jealousies and a series of betrayals place them on a deadly collision course that will reshape the mafia (and America) forever.' Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment announced Friday that The Alto Knights will arrive on Max on Friday, June 6, and debut on HBO Linear on Saturday, June 7, at 8 p.m. ET. Max offers three streaming packages. An ad-based package costs $9.99 per month, an ad-free package is $16.99 per month and an ad-free package that includes 4K Ultra HD programming is $20.99 per month. The Alto Knights had a rough run in theaters, earning $6.1 million domestically and $3.4 million internationally for a worldwide box office gross of $9.5 million against a $45 million budget before prints and advertising costs, according to The Numbers. The Robert De Niro star vehicle was splattered with negative reviews from Rotten Tomatoes critics, who collectively gave the film a 39% 'rotten' rating based on 136 reviews. The RT Critics Consensus for the film reads, 'A competent but tired retread of mob movie tropes, The Alto Knights pits De Niro vs. De Niro with no real victor emerging.' The Alto Knights was better received by audiences, however, who gave the film a 71% 'fresh' Popcornmeter score based on 500-plus verified user ratings. The audience summary on RT for the film reads, 'Prioritizing drama over action, The Alto Knights works as a somewhat enjoyable pastiche of mob films.' The Alto Knights, starring Robert De Niro, arrives on streaming on Max on June 6 and premieres on HBO linear on June 7 at 8 p.m. ET.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Why Robert De Niro's Mob Drama ‘Alto Knights' Is Such a Box Office Disaster
'The Alto Knights,' a crime thriller starring dueling Robert De Niros, made moviegoers an offer they easily refused. The Warner Bros. film was D.O.A. over the weekend with $3.2 million at the domestic box office, one of the worst-ever starts for a major studio release. 'The Alto Knights' also cratered overseas, earning $1.8 million for a bleak worldwide tally of $5.1 million. With a price tag above $45 million before marketing is taken into account, 'The Alto Knights' is already one of the year's biggest misfires. More from Variety Robert De Niro Shares TV Shows He Watches With His 'Discerning' Two-Year-Old Toddler: 'Ms. Rachel, The Wiggles, Blippi' Box Office: 'Snow White' Awakens With $16 Million Opening Day as 'Alto Knights' Bombs 'The Alto Knights' Director Barry Levinson Talks Dueling Robert De Niros, Creating Perfect Shots in 'The Natural' and Coaching Movie Stars to Great Performances Box office watchers, however, aren't exactly scratching their heads to figure out what went wrong. They believe 'The Alto Knights' hails from a genre — mobster movies — that's been sleeping with the fishes for decades. Then critics rebuked the film, which landed a poor 37% on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences, at least the few people who checked the film out, were kinder, giving it a 'B' grade on CinemaScore exit polls. Still, those mixed scores don't bode well for word-of-mouth. 'This kind of crime story has been out of style for years now,' says David A. Gross, who runs the FranchiseRe movie consulting firm. 'Current soft theatrical market conditions are not going to help it.' Directed by 'Wag the Dog' and 'Rain Man' filmmaker Barry Levinson and adapted by Nicholas Pileggi, best known for his work as a writer or producer on 'Goodfellas,' 'Casino' and 'The Irishman,' the movie follows De Niro as Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, childhood friends who became two of New York's most notorious organized crime bosses. For a film like 'The Alto Knights,' which already faces strong headwinds in this theatrical landscape, to have a shot at success, it needs rave reviews or potential awards chatter. Critics weren't on board, though, with several calling the choice to have De Niro star opposite himself was unnecessarily confusing. The Washington Post's Michael O'Sullivan described the stunt as 'not just unnecessary, it's supremely distracting.' ('It invites the question: Why?' he wrote in his review) and The New Yorker's Justin Chang simply referred to the double casting as an 'odd gimmick.' It's not like gangster movies were all the rage when Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav greenlit the film in 2022. His decision to grant the film a $45 million budget and theatrical release had prompted a few raised eyebrows on the studio lot at the time. Levinson, who began working on 'The Alto Knights' (formerly titled 'Wise Guys') with Pileggi and producer Irwin Winkler before the pandemic, told Variety that Pileggi's relationship with Zaslav had paved the way for the project to get made. 'Zaslav has known Nick, and somehow in a conversation [the film] came up, and Zaslav was intrigued by it,' Levinson said in an interview prior to the movie's release. 'That was sort of how it all came together.' The studio also thought 'The Alto Knights' could be another entry in De Niro's pantheon of much-loved gangster films, several of which (like 'Goodfellas' and 'Mean Streets') were produced by Warner Bros. For De Niro, 'The Alto Knights' represented a return to the genre that made him a star. The 81-year-old became an enduring A-lister after classic Mafia movies like 'The Godfather Part II,' 'The Untouchables,' 'Casino' and 'Goodfellas.' He's even parodied his deep association with Cosa Nostra cinema in the 'Analyze This' films. Yet it's a type of film that's 30 years past its sell-by date. Even Martin Scorsese's starry 'Killers of the Flower Moon,' a Western crime drama about the 1920 Oklahoma murders in the Osage Nation, struggled at the box office against a $200 million budget. And Leonardo DiCaprio starred in that film, which was nominated for several Oscars, alongside De Niro. Meanwhile Levinson's filmography over the past quarter-century has included such commercial misfires as 2015's comedy 'Rock the Kasbah,' 2014's drama 'The Humbling,' 2012's horror mockumentary 'The Bay' and 2006's political comedy 'Man of the Year.' The Oscar-winner's last significant theatrical hit was 1997's 'Wag the Dog,' which grossed $65 million against a $15 million budget. ''Alto Knights' is a film of a bygone Hollywood era. The director and star are no longer box office draws,' says Exhibitor Relations analyst Jeff Bock. 'Warner Bros. didn't do them any favors as they barely advertised the film. When a film doesn't have major studio support in this marketplace, it's bombs away at the box office.' So who went to see 'Alto Knights' in its opening weekend? Apparently, older white men and Canadians. According to exit polls, 60% of moviegoers were male and 60% were Caucasian (comparatively, 27% were Hispanic, 7% were Black, 3% were Asian and 3% were Native American). Nearly 90% were above the age of 25. Meanwhile three of the top four highest-grossing locations — Cineplex Queensway Toronto, Cineplex Winston Churchill Toronto, Cineplex Laval Montreal — were from America's Neighbors to the North. New York City and Los Angeles typically have the top-earning theaters in North America. 'Seems like Canadians turned out for an adult drama, something that is unfortunately becoming more and more of a rarity in the North American marketplace,' Bock said. 'The Alto Knights' is the second consecutive theatrical misfire for Warner Bros. after Bong Joon Ho's big budget sci-fi comedy 'Mickey 17.' Coincidentally, both films feature a lead actor named Robert who plays multiple parts in the same movie. (In 'Mickey 17,' Robert Pattinson portrays disposable employee whose body is able to regenerate for science.) In three weeks of release, 'Mickey 17' has earned $40 million domestically and $110 million worldwide. It's a respectable tally for the original swing, except that the film cost $118 million to produce. Since 'Mickey 17' needed to earn more like $275 million to $300 million to break even, it's now projected to lose $75 million to $80 million in its big screen run. The studio's fortunes should rebound in April with 'A Minecraft Movie,' a Jack Black-led adaptation of the popular video game that's tracking for a decent opening weekend. And later in the year, there's James Gunn's 'Superman' as well as follow-ups to 'Mortal Kombat,' 'Final Destination' and 'The Conjuring.' Yet Warner Bros. has several other big swings on the calendar, including Paul Thomas Anderson's $140 million 'One Battle After Another' and Ryan Coogler's $90 million vampire thriller 'Sinners.' In the interview before the debut of 'The Alto Knights,' Levinson seemed sanguine about the volatility of the movie industry, which he's been involved with for decades. 'There are a lot of obstacles in this business, and you just have to navigate it as best you can,' Levinson told Variety. 'But there are the moments when you say, 'Look, I've been able to do a lot of stories that interested me, and I was able to work with a lot of actors that I had a great, great working relationship with.' The downside is the downside. But that comes with the territory.'
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Box Office: ‘Snow White' Awakens With $16 Million Opening Day as ‘Alto Knights' Bombs
Disney's 'Snow White' is the fairest of them all on box office charts. The musical earned $16 million across Friday and preview screenings from 4,200 venues. It's enough of a start to put 'Snow White,' which stars Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, on track to land within projections for an opening weekend north of $45 million. That would mark the second-biggest debut of the year behind fellow Disney release 'Captain America: Brave New World.' But like that Marvel Cinematic Universe entry, 'Snow White' is budgeted like a four-quadrant tentpole and needs to play like one. The Marc Webb-directed fairy tale carries a massive production cost north of $250 million, meaning it faces a steep climb to profitability. More from Variety 'The Alto Knights' Director Barry Levinson Talks Dueling Robert De Niros, Creating Perfect Shots in 'The Natural' and Coaching Movie Stars to Great Performances Box Office: 'Snow White' Makes $3.5 Million in Previews Disney Shareholders Overwhelmingly Reject Proposal to Sever Ties With LGBTQ Rights Group at Annual Meeting Plenty of Disney's other family-friendly films have legged out successful theatrical runs, as the digitally-rendered 'Mufasa: The Lion King' did just a few months ago. That film launched in December with unfavorable reviews and a lukewarm $35 million opening, but it held strong and proved a global draw, ending up with more than $250 million in North America and over $700 million worldwide. But then there's also the 2019 remake 'Dumbo,' which took flight with $45 million and ended up at $114 million domestic and $353 million worldwide. That was a disappointing tally, for a film that cost much less than 'Snow White' too, at a $170 million production budget. 'Snow White' would need to accomplish a similar feat to 'Mufasa' to be considered a theatrical success, and it doesn't have the moviegoing free-for-all of the Christmas corridor that the 'Lion King' prequel benefited from. Reviews have been negative, though the film seems to have drawn good notices among audiences. While 'Snow White' has become an internet culture war fixation (to the point that Disney scaled back press access at the premiere), those who actually bought tickets are leaning positive, with pollster Cinema Score turning in a 'B+' grade. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. will hope to forget about it after opening the mafia drama 'The Alto Knights,' a crime period piece that sees Robert De Niro playing two identical (yet biologically unrelated) gang leaders in New York. The film got whacked with about $1.1 million across Friday and previews, playing in 2,651 theaters. Like fellow Warner release 'Mickey 17,' which misfired in its opening just two weeks ago, 'The Alto Knights' is a star-driven, original R-rated drama from a filmmaker with awards history (here, in director Barry Levinson). Unlike 'Mickey 17,' which can't draw a big enough audience to justify its nine-digit budget, 'Alto Knights' is a more measured affair, with a $45 million production cost. But also unlike 'Mickey 17,' 'Alto Knights' simply isn't drawing much of anyone at all. Cinema Score turned in a measured 'B' grade. And 'Alto Knights' was met with a shrug by critics. The crime film will be lucky to even crack the top five in its debut. It's been a tough March for Warner Bros.; the studio is looking to bounce back with the video game adaptation 'A Minecraft Movie' in two weeks. The rest of the top five is a mush of holdovers. Focus Features' spy thriller 'Black Bag' is rising to second, though projecting a 43% drop for its second weekend. It's not the impressive word-of-mouth hold that Universal's specialty label was hoping for the starry $50 million drama, which will now look to cross $14.8 million through its first 10 days. Disney's 'Captain America: Brave New World' is also climbing back up, landing in third. The Marvel entry earned $1.1 million on Friday and will cross a $190 million domestic total on Saturday. Then there's Paramount's slapstick actioner 'Novocaine,' falling a substantial 57% in its second outing, projecting a $3.8 million weekend to hit a $15.8 million domestic total. And Warner's 'Mickey 17' is just below, earning another $1 million Friday and hoping to scrape past a $40 million domestic total this weekend Also opening this weekend, RLJE and Shudder are putting the alien-planet horror feature 'Ash' in 1,163 theaters just over a week after a premiere at SXSW. Directed by Flying Lotus and starring Eiza González and Aaron Paul, the thriller earned about $333,000 on its opening day. Meanwhile, Briarcliff Entertainment has the long-shelfed Jonathan Majors bodybuilding drama 'Magazine Dreams,' which the indie label acquired after Searchlight Pictures dropped the film following the actor's 2023 assault conviction. It also earned about $330,000 on its opening day, playing in 815 venues. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Oscars 2026: First Blind Predictions Including Timothée Chalamet, Emma Stone, 'Wicked: For Good' and More What's Coming to Disney+ in March 2025
