Warner’s The Kitchen tanked at the box-office, the weekend of Aug 9-11, despite star power. The heist thriller is starring three popular actress, Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish and Elisabeth Moss.
The movie flamed out with $5.5 million, a dismal debut given the high-wattage cast and a production budget nearing $38 million. Andrea Berloff wrote and directed the film, which also features Domhnall Gleeson, James Badge Dale and Brian d’Arcy James.
Burned by negative reviews, Warner and New Line’s heist thriller was also rejected by viewers, who gave it a mediocre B- CinemaScore. Thus, the movie cannot rely on word-of-mouth.
Warner didn’t support The Kitchen like a big summer blockbuster, but the problem is not so much marketing as a below-mediocre picture which, thematically, resembled too much last year’s Widows. The jumbled plot was not involving, and it relied too much on stereotypes and clichés of other heist-mobster movies.
Claiming a budget of $38 million, The Kitchen represents yet another mid-budget movie that has struggled to punch up against blockbusters dominating multiplexes. It’s becoming tougher for studios to sell audiences on anything that that they could see on Netflix.
The R-rated movie, which debuted against four other nationwide releases, also faced competition from Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” which is still drawing adults to theaters.
Then there is the casting issue: having comedic powerhouses like McCarthy and Haddish play against type by taking on serious roles was not embraced by audiences still expecting something lighter from the two funny women.
The movie marks a career low for both Haddish and McCarthy.
