Although Bullet Train, directed by David Leitch, has been playing in cinemas for nearly two weeks, the film’s success is still up in the air. A $90 million production, Bullet Train has earned over $150 million globally over the weekend. If Bullet Train performs like director David Leitch’s previous picture, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, it will earn roughly $100 million at the US box office. At the moment, it’s doing about as well as The Lost City, the successful action comedy starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum that featured an extended appearance by Bullet Train actor Brad Pitt.
With a projected budget of less than $70 million, The Lost City grossed over $100 million domestically and almost $200 million globally. Similarly, Bullock makes an appearance in Bullet Train, which also stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Joey King, Brian Tyree Henry, Michael Shannon, and Bad Bunny. Moviegoers gave it a B+ on its opening day, but reviews were split. The critic Ross Bonaime said the film “has lots of fun with the outrageous lengths it can go” since it is “knowingly ludicrous.” Pitt’s last significant box office play was 2019’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which grossed $374 million worldwide and also starred Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie, and Quentin Tarantino. Bullet Train is the first of his films to feature these three actors and is directed by Tarantino.
Pitt’s final major part was in James Gray’s intellectual science fiction picture Ad Astra, which cost approximately the same as Bullet Train but grossed $135 million worldwide. Leitch was really Pitt’s stunt double way back when. His directing debut was the first John Wick film (for which he received no credit), and he went on to helm the spy thriller Atomic Blonde, which was a moderate success, earning $100 million worldwide against a projected $30 million budget. Hobbs & Shaw ($760 million internationally) and Deadpool 2 ($785 million globally) are Leitch’s two greatest blockbusters.
If memory serves, Pitt had a noteworthy cameo appearance in the latter picture. The disappointing box office performance of Bullet Train, the last major film to be released this summer, has put an end to a run of hits. And there wasn’t even too much of a rival to worry about. For all we know, we might not see any new movies until September 23, when Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry, Darling hits theatres. Smaller films, like the Idris Elba vehicle Beast and George Miller’s bizarrely placed Three Thousand Years of Longing, will keep audiences occupied.