The Musketeer
Release Date:
September 7, 2001
Hope springs eternal for the optimists of the world, but even their concerted efforts and best wishes may be severely challenged in the face of the loosely-based storyline of French author Alexandre Dumas' young upstart musketeer character, D'Artagnan.
Featuring a cast of whozats? and alive or dead? actors, the PG-13-rated actioner, The Musketeer has but one promising name attached to the project, noted action-flick director Peter Hyams (End of Days, The Relic, The Presidio).
Historically-themed movies, especially those targeted towards younger audiences, have, historically speaking, fared rather poorly at the box office. The recent modest success of the medieval-themed A Knight's Tale, featuring a modern-day music soundtrack and teen hunk Heath Ledger, is a notable exception, but The Musketeer is unlikely to have a similar ad push and the generous number of venues from which A Knight's Tale undoubtedly benefited.
With a September 7th release date, and a reported budget topping $50 million, The Musketeer may very well challenge this year's stupefying box-office dud Town and Country for all-time biggest flop dishonors. (Cal Hubbard/BOP)
Box Office Autopsy
The Musketeer was the last film to open at number one before the world changed on September 11, 2001. The swashbuckler was from Universal, and did manage to gross more than $10 million over opening weekend, but after the tragedy, it didn't have much of a chance at making its money back.
The Musketeer had an unbelievable nine production companies work on this film, including Miramax, but was released domestically by Universal. The film grossed $10.3 million over its opening frame, a great start for the $40 million dollar production. However, due to world events and rotten reviews (Musketeer only had 10 positive reviews out of a possible 94) the film dropped 47% in its second weekend, 35% in its third, and the death blow came in the fourth weekend with a 51% drop. The film ended up with only $27.1 million, resulting in a large loss for those many companies involved.
To highlight how quickly The Musketeer faded, let's look at director Peter Hyams previous film The Relic. Just as bad, The Relic opened to about $1.2 million less than Musketeer, but ended up with $34 million, almost $7 million more that the sword fighting monstrosity. (John Hamann)
Comparison films for The Musketeer |
Title |
Date |
Opening |
Adjusted Opening |
Screens |
PSA |
Adj PSA |
Total BO |
Adjusted Total |
Mult |
| Knight's Tale, A |
5/11/01 | 16.51 |
17.62 |
2980 |
5541.00 |
5688.1 |
56.08 |
59.85 |
3.40 |
| Timecop |
9/16/94 | 12.06 |
17.82 |
2228 |
5413.00 |
7695.0 |
44.37 |
65.57 |
3.68 |
| Relic |
1/10/97 | 9.06 |
11.90 |
2095 |
4325.00 |
5465.1 |
33.94 |
44.58 |
3.75 |
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