2016 was a year of ups and downs for Ben Affleck’s career. For example, while he made his DC Extended Universe debut as Bruce Wayne/Batman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and earned nearly universal praise for his performance (despite an unjust and bizarre Razzie nomination for Worst Actor), the film as a whole was negatively received by critics and pointed out some major creative problems in the DCEU. Additionally, his action drama The Accountant was an undeniable hit, taking home over three times its budget at the box office, but Live by Night, his directorial follow-up to Argo, failed to deliver.
Live by Night had a ton of potential, between a promising trailer, superb cast and Affleck making his return to the director’s chair after helming three much-loved feature films, which makes the fact that it did so poorly hard to believe. Not only did the film fail to connect with critics, garnering mixed to negative reception, but it failed to connect with audiences as well, bringing in only about $16.5 million so far at the global box office. While that number will at least grow a bit as the film hits more territories and finishes out its theatrical run, considering its $65 million budget, you can call it the first flop of 2017 (although to be fair it is technically a 2016 film).
In fact, Variety recently spoke with industry insiders and reportedly Warner Bros. is looking at a massive $75 million loss on the film. On top of its pricey budget, Warner Bros., of course, spent tens of millions of dollars on marketing and distribution. The studio is hoping for strong home entertainment sales and TV licensing deals to recoup some of the losses.
The flop probably hurts even more for Affleck since he starred in, wrote and produced the film on top of directing. Hopefully, the actor finds more success in 2017 and beyond with Justice League, the still-untitled Batman solo film and Witness for the Prosecution.
Originally published January 27, 2017. Updated April 15, 2018.
