Kevin Spacey film ‘Billionaire Boys Club’ takes in just US$126 as it flops at box office
The actor’s career was derailed last year when sexual assault allegations were made against him
Kevin Spacey’s latest film has tanked at the box office after taking in a record-breaking low of just $126 on its opening night in US cinemas.
Billionaire Boys Club was the last film the actor made before sexual assault allegations dating back more than 30 years began to surface against him last October.
Despite other big names in the cast including Ansel Elgort and Taron Egerton the film quietly opened in just 10 US cities after a muted video on demand release last month.
The Hollywood Reporter estimated that the movie had an average take of under US$13 at each cinema it was shown in – less than the cost of two seats based on the current US average ticket price of US$9.
In comparison, the 2017 film Baby Driver, with Spacey in a starring role, took more than US$20 million at the box office in its opening weekend.
Spacey, 59, was fired from the Netflix series House of Cards last year when allegations emerged. He was also removed from the film All the Money in the World, with his role recast and scenes reshot with his replacement, Christopher Plummer.
Doubts hung over the fate of Billionaire Boys Club but its distributor, Vertical Entertainment, announced it would go ahead with the release based on Spacey’s “small, supporting role” in the production.
In a statement released this year the distributors said: “We hope these distressing allegations pertaining to one person’s behaviour, that were not publicly known when the film was made almost two and a half years ago and from someone who has a small, supporting role in Billionaire Boys Club, does not tarnish the release of the film.
“In the end, we hope audiences make up their own minds as to the reprehensible allegations of one person’s past, but not at the expense of the entire cast and crew present on this film.”
The crime drama is based on a real-life investing and social club of the same name that made headlines in California in the 1980s when the group was exposed as a Ponzi scheme during two high-profile murder trials.
Experts predict the movie will struggle to make even US$1,000 from its first weekend as it has not been released in either Los Angeles or New York.
