Yikes! Matthew McConaughey’s ‘Sea of Trees’ Can’t Clear $3,000 in 6 Days

At this rate, Gus Van Sant-directed drama will make back its reported $25 million budget in the year 2158

THE SEA OF TREES

After six days in two theaters, the Gus Van Sant drama “Sea of Trees” has made only $2,894.

That amounts to a per-theater average of $1,447 — mere pennies by movie standards — especially given the film’s reported $25 million production budget.

Starring Matthew McConaughey and Naomi Watts, the drama revolves around a suicidal American who befriends a Japanese man (Ken Watanabe) as the two lost men search for a way out of a forest near Mt. Fuji.

The movie is being distributed by A24, which has had better luck this summer with “The Lobster,” which has amassed $9.1 million, and “Swiss Army Man,” which has made $4.2 million.

The first indication that “Sea of Trees” would bomb came during its debut last year at Cannes, where audiences booed.

As it crept closer to its Aug. 26 U.S. release, the movie’s Rotten Tomatoes score settled into an abysmal 8 percent, with most critics bashing the drama about a man’s deep depression for being forced and inauthentic.

Since McConaughey won his Oscar for “Dallas Buyers Club” more than two years ago, his track record has been spotty.

Critics weren’t all that impressed with him in “Interstellar,” although the Christopher Nolan movie did gross $675.1 million at the box office, with more than 72 percent of that take coming from abroad. “Free State of Jones” then brought in just $20.8 million earlier this summer. And while critics and audiences were kept riveted by McConaughey on HBO’s “True Detective,” he hasn’t quite been able to transfer those accolades back to the big screen.

This Labor Day weekend, “Sea of Trees” boldly expands into 101 theaters.

Comments