Argylle had all the tools for success. It had proven box office draws. A director who is known for some of the most popular franchises of the modern generation. It also had an original, yet familiar premise that seemed like a parody of the spy/action drama. When the Argylle trailer was first unleashed to the masses in late 2023, it garnered some nice buzz over the latest Apple feature due to the strong trailer overall. Sure, there are clear moments of CGI, but Argylle seemed like a fun callback to all the spy movies that came before.
Then Argylle was released. By this time, the hype surrounding the Henry Cavill vehicle had severely died down. It was originally projected to open at $25 million domestically. Considering the reported $200 million price tag, that number is far from encouraging. Luckily for Apple, they didn’t get $25 million. Argylle opened at $18 million domestically. How did a film with a star-studded cast in front and behind the scenes fail to connect with audiences?
The Cast Wasn’t All That Star Studded
When you look beyond the surface, you’ll realize that the cast isn’t really that star-studded. It’s crazy three of the cast members have movies that made over five hundred million dollars (Samuel L. Jackson, Henry Cavill, John Cena, and Bryce Dallas Howard), but those films aren’t a success because of their names. Superman (Cavill) was an established intellectual property and though Cavill was highly praised as Clark Kent, fans cared more about the character than Cavill himself.
In fact, when you look outside of Cavill’s roles in franchises you’ll notice that he doesn’t have any films that come close to what Man of Steel or Justice League did financially. The same thing goes for the other three names. Howard is fresh off the Jurassic World series, but fans went to see the film for the premise, not the main human characters.
True stars can carry a film with the need of an established IP. Tom Cruise is a star because he has plenty of films under his belt that have been a success because of his name recognition. So is Leonardo DiCaprio or Denzel Washington; sure, these guys have flops as well, but people go to see their films because of them. Matthew Vaughn isn’t better himself as Kingsman and X-Men were established comics transferred over to the big screen. The billing may say a star-studded cast, but Argylle had a bunch of A-list actors who have yet to prove that they can carry a $200 million budget film based on their names alone.
The Advertising Deception
Deceptive advertising seems to be the hot trend in films lately. Mean Girls, Wonka, and The Color Purple have done this. However, advertising deception has been nothing new in Hollywood. The deception here is that the marketing used Cavill and Dua Lipa are the faces of the film. Dua Lipa is an international pop star, so executives were likely hoping that fans would crossover and check out the new spy/action vehicle.
Regarding business, it makes sense as Taylor Swift managed to stun the masses with her concert film that collected over $200 million worldwide. In terms of Cavill, the actor has a huge fanbase despite never really building his name on his own. The 40-year-old has been building his reputation through established IPs, which I explained why he isn’t a star above. The point is, that these two carried the backs of the marketing, but Cavill and Dua Lipa have less than ten minutes of screen time.
The leads of this film are Howard and Sam Rockwell, who don’t particularly have the recognition that appeals to the masses. They’re extremely talented actors, but they’re not mainstream draws. Word of mouth likely sealed the fate of Argylle. It’s bad enough that the film received lackluster critical reviews, but it didn’t deliver the promise of a Henry Cavill-led spy/action series, which likely pissed off or disappointed fans. Not every film can be Wonka, so studios need to remember that advertising deception can only work for so many films.
Argylle Had No Heat Before The Review Embargo Released
We can’t forget about the obvious – Argylle received terrible reviews going into the opening weekend. But it’s been proved in the past that if fans were generally excited for a film then they’ll check it out in theaters. Five Nights at Freddy‘s is a strong example of this. That movie went into opening weekend with lackluster reviews, but it still opened with an astounding $77 million. The biggest shocker is that it was also released on Peacock on the same day.
There just wasn’t much buzz for Argylle. The trailer came out and the reception was lukewarm, but the trailer was too silly for most. It was reminiscent of Kingsman, but the much-hated sequel. Argylle was built with a blockbuster in mind. Sure, it has the coveted PG-13 rating, but the film seemed too weird and out-of-the-box for the masses to want to shell out the big bucks to see it in theaters. The reviews certainly drove home that Argylle was only worth the time if it was on streaming.
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