One of the main selling points for the action thrillerSilent Nightis that it was directed by legendary action filmmaker John Woo and marks Woo’s first American film in twenty years since the 2003 science-fiction action filmPaycheck. Indeed, Woo’s trademark virtuoso action sequences are especially prevalent inSilent Night, which has no spoken dialogue. The film’s essential “silence” gimmick is embodied by the film’s speechless protagonist, a grief-stricken father who, after being shot in the throat and losing his voice, enacts wordless revenge on Christmas Eve against the gang members who killed his son on the previous Christmas Eve.
Regardless, no one seems to care. Despite the fact thatJohn Woo’s filmhas received excellent critical reviews, audiences have stayed away from the movie in droves. Worse,Silent Nightis not only a box office failure but is also on the path to becoming one of the lowest-grossing theatrical films of 2023.
Moreover, the movie’s box office failure seems symbolic of the fact that audiences have become increasingly predisposed to watching modestly budgeted films, especially action films, through the streaming realm, whereSilent Nightprobably should have debuted in the first place.
Silence Night’s Opening Weekend Box Office Numbers
Silent Night
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Silent Nightwas projected to gross between $6 million and $8 million in its opening weekend at the domestic box office. However, after the film posted a tepid opening-day domestic gross of just under $1.1 million, the opening weekend projection for the movie, which debuted in North America in 1,870 theaters, was lowered to between $2 million and $3 million.
Indeed, while an $8 million domestic opening forSilent Nightmay not have been cause for celebration for the film’s distributor, Lionsgate, it would have nonetheless represented an encouraging beginning for the film, especially since the theater count for Woo’s movie was considerably lower than that of its box office competitors, most of which opened in more than 3,000 theaters in North America.
Exclusive: Joel Kinnaman Takes Bloody Vengeance in Silent Night
Joel Kinnaman has almost no dialogue while hunting his son’s killers. He praises director John Woo for an epic experience that felt experimental.
However,Silent Nightfinished with a domestic opening weekend gross of approximately $3 million, which placed the film in ninth place for the weekend, ahead of the holdover horror filmThanksgivingand behind the debuting Christian thriller filmThe Shift.
Silent Night, which carries a production cost of less than $30 million, has a current domestic gross of approximately $3.9 million and an overseas gross of just over $400,000, for a dismal current worldwide total of approximately $4.3 million.
Silent Night Lacked a Good Marketing Campaign
Regarding possible explanations for the dismal box office performance ofSilent Night, much of the blame has been directed toward the film’s advertising campaign, the lack of a big star, anddirector John Woo’sprolonged absence from North American cinema.
In terms of advertising, many people doubtlessly perceived the blood-soaked film, given its title, as being another Christmas-oriented horror movie in the vein of the 1984 slasher filmSilent Night, Deadly Night. Moreover, this sense of genre confusion was exacerbated by a fairly lackluster marketing campaign, which was hamstrung by the lack of a bankable and instantly recognizable star in the film’s lead role.
Indeed, whileSilent Nightstar Joel Kinnaman has certainly proven himself to be a compelling and exciting actor in various film and television projects, Kinnaman is too commercially unproven to have been able to carry the movie at the box office. Prior toSilent Night, Kinnaman’s most recent leading film roles were in the thriller filmsThe Secrets WeKeepandSympathy for the Devil, both of which received limited theatrical releases.
Regarding Woo, for people over the age of forty who vividly recall Woo’s 1990s transition to Hollywood, beginning with the 1993 action filmHard Target, the utter commercial rejection ofSilent Night, at least in terms of the film’s theatrical life, represents a sobering example of the merciless effect of the passage of time. Of course, this also reflects the inescapable reality that Woo’s name and reputation seemingly hold little or no meaning for most audiences under the age of forty.
Silent Night Is a Box Office Bomb
Needless to say,Silent Nightdirector John Woo’s heralded return to North American cinema has been marred by the dismal box office performance, which is on pace to become the biggest box office flop of Woo’s feature directorial career.
While Woo’s last American film,Paycheck, was considered to be a box office failure, primarily in relation to the film’s $60 million production cost,Paychecknonetheless grossed $117.2 million at the worldwide box office, whereasSilent Nightwill struggle to surpass the $10 million mark at the domestic box office with seemingly negligible prospects at the overseas box office.
Indeed, given the film’s coretheme of revenge, it would be entirely fitting ifSilent Night, following its box office death, achieved vengeance in its post-theatrical life.
If you lovedSilent Night, check out MovieWeb’s interview with director John Woo below.
