This past weekend saw Halloween continue its reign atop the box office in advance of its namesake holiday while A Star is Born and Venom both continued their impressive runs. While admittedly none of them were big name titles, new releases didn't fare nearly as well, especially London Fields. The new film starring Amber Heard just had the worst per screen opening of all time.
London Fields opened in theaters on October 26, and over the weekend it managed only $160,000 from 613 theaters. If you carry the 1, that shakes out to a historically bad $261 per screen average. That is the lowest per screen average ever for a movie opening in that many locations and one of the lowest ever for a wide release, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
To put London Fields' performance in perspective, another new release, Luca Guadagnino's remake Suspiria, managed $179,806. That's might not seem like a lot more, but Suspiria was playing in two locations, not 613.
The abysmal per screen average gives London Fields an ignominious place in the record books, and its overall gross doesn't fare much better. Citing Box Office Mojo's database, which dates back to 1980, London Fields' $160,000 opening weekend is the second worst opening for a wide release (600+ theaters) behind the far less star-studded 2008 film Proud American, which managed only $96,076.
Once all the beans are counted, London Fields' opening weekend total could shift, but it will still be below $200,000, making it only the second wide release film, along with Proud American, to fail to clear that hurdle.
Now some of you may be asking at this point, 'What the heck is London Fields?,' and you'd be forgiven for doing so. The film from director Matthew Cullen has been in the can for a while now and has languished under legal drama. First there was a dispute between the director and the producer, and then the producers sued star Amber Heard, who then countersued that her nudity agreement was violated.
Those legal issues were sorted out, which is why this film that was set to release back in 2015 is finally in theaters. Although it's not clear how much money was sunk into promotion for the film, so this box office performance may not have been much of a surprise.
London Fields is based on a novel by author Martin Amis and tells the story of Nicola Six, a femme fatale and clairvoyant who begins a relationship with three men, knowing that one of them will be her killer. The film stars Amber Heard, Cara Delevigne, Billy Bob Thornton, Theo James, Jim Sturgess and features a cameo from Amber Heard's ex, Johnny Depp.
Reviews for the film have been abysmal, as it currently sports a humiliating 0% score on Rotten Tomatoes. I don't think the trailers did it any favors either. The only thing the trailers seem to convey is that Amber Heard is attractive and thus other characters in the film want her. Beyond that, there isn't much clarity about the story or much reason to want to see it.
While London Fields will occupy a humiliating spot in the record books, Amber Heard should bounce back in a big way soon. The actress next stars as Mera in the DCEU flick Aquaman, which should do much better at the box office than London Fields.
Aquaman dives into theaters on December 21. Check out our release guide for all the biggest movies you can look forward to the rest of the year.
