George Clooney’s Suburbicon, starring Matt Damon and Julianne Moore, opened to a dismal $2.8 million from 2,045 theaters after getting slapped with a D- CinemaScore.
That’s the worst nationwide launch of Clooney’s directing career and the worst showing of Damon’s career behind All the Pretty Horses, which debuted to $1.3 million from 1,483 cinemas in 2000. It is also one of the worst wide opening in Paramount’s history.
Clooney’s movie, which placed No. 9, received little love from critics when making high-profile stops at the Venice and Toronto film festivals. The crime comedy, from a script by Clooney, Grant Heslov and the Coen brothers, tells the story of a seemingly perfect white family whose suburban home is invaded in the summer of 1959. Meanwhile, their new African-American neighbors don’t find life quite so nice in their neighborhood.
Paramount paid $10 million for U.S. rights to the $25 million indie project, which was financed by Black Bear Pictures, with Bloom handling the film internationally.