While “Avatar: The Way of Water” is getting most of the box office attention with its meteoric holiday run in theaters, it’s time to address the defecating elephant in the room: Paramount’s box office bust “Babylon.”
After spending all of 2022 putting out multiple box office hits from different genres and budget levels — including the $1.48 billion “Top Gun: Maverick” — Paramount took a roll of the dice on Oscar-winning director Damien Chazelle’s $78 million dramedy set in 1920s Hollywood. As general audiences rushed to “Avatar 2” and families have trickled in to “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” “Babylon” has accrued an anemic $11 million domestic box office total after two weekends in theaters.
Why ‘Babylon’ Bombed at the Box Office – and Paramount May Be OK With It
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Though his raunchy R-rated dramedy put off audiences, Damien Chazelle may be part of the studio’s larger plans
