Mike Flanagan’s New Stephen King Movie Continues An Unfortunate Box Office Trend Despite 82% RT Score

Mike Flanagan has proven himself to be a longtime fan of Stephen King, but the director’s latest adaptation of the writer’s work has struggled to connect at the box office despite being critically acclaimed. With Flanagan well-known for his Netflix horror adaptations, including Midnight Mass and The Haunting of Hill House, the director seemed to step out of his comfort zone with his new movie, a heartwarming science-fiction drama. While the film has gone on to reap accolades, with some even hinting at future Oscar nominations, it has so far struggled to succeed financially.

The new film is the third that Flanagan has made based on King’s writings. Stephen King himself has praised Flanagan’s work, which is in itself an excellent accolade. The author has long shared honest opinions on adaptations of his works, and famously does not love all of them, including Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. Fortunately, it seems that King and Flanagan have a healthy respect for one another. Unfortunately, while this has been creatively successful, it may not be a financially viable partnership.

Life Of Chuck Had A $2.9 Million Domestic Opening Following Its Wide Release

The Budget Is Currently Unknown

Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck expanded to a wide release this past weekend, and did not make much of an impact. According to Deadline, after one week of limited release and three days of rolling out nationwide, the film has only been able to reap a total of $2.4 million domestically. This performance is staggering and places the film’s past weekend, at its widest opening yet, behind even Final Destination Bloodlines’ fifth weekend. With $2.1 million earned domestically during this three-day period, The Life of Chuck was the ninth-highest-grossing movie of the weekend.

The Life of Chuck opened in wide release behind the third weekend gross of The Phoenician Scheme and just above a $1.47 million ninth weekend for Sinners, which is already available on VOD.

It is unclear how significant a failure this is at the box office. While these numbers are not strong, the budget for the movie has not been reported. Still, NEON bought the rights to the movie after its release at TIFF last year, when the film’s future looked especially bright, and they likely paid more than this to acquire the film. Pushing the release into the next calendar year was a strange choice, but the move suggested that the studio believed The Life of Chuck had at least decent box office potential. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be playing out as hoped.

Mike Flanagan Is Now 0/2 On Theatrical Releases For Stephen King Adaptations

Doctor Sleep Also Didn’t Do So Well At The Box Office

Doctor Sleep

7/10

Release Date

October 30, 2019

Runtime

153 minutes

Flanagan previously directed a sequel to The Shining with Doctor Sleep, and the film also failed to connect at the box office. Made for $45 million, Doctor Sleep was only able to reap a total of $72 million worldwide, with only $31 million of that coming from domestic audiences. The film was mostly liked by both audiences and critics, earning Rotten Tomatoes scores of 89% and 78% respectively, but this did not translate to financial success. It is possible that Flanagan’s streaming background may have been a factor here.

Notably, Doctor Sleep was released only two months after It: Chapter Two. While the first It film was an enormous success, and the second was able to make $473 million in cinemas, the sequel was considered by many to be a massive step-down in quality from the first film. This likely tempered interest in another King adaptation coming so soon after in Doctor Sleep.

The first feature film Flanagan made based on a work by King was Gerald’s Game, a small, taut thriller that was released in 2017 on Netflix. The film was well-received on the streamer, and helped to launch Flanagan as a mainstay on the service. Since then, audiences have grown familiar with his work on Netflix, including The Haunting of Bly Manor and The Fall of the House of Usher. With regular Flanagan releases sent straight to streaming, the director’s work may not feel as necessary to be seen in cinemas.

Does The Poor Box Office Hurt The Life Of Chuck’s Award Chances?

The Oscar Buzz Started Early

The Life of Chuck won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2024, which has tended to be a harbinger of Academy Award success. The People’s Choice winner every year since 2012 has been nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, and many of those films, including Nomadland and Green Book, have gone on to win the biggest prize. Unfortunately, the poor box office performance of The Life of Chuck may be a factor that inhibits the new movie’s chances at next year’s ceremony.

Awards season is a notable time in the year, and recency bias is huge with awards body voters, including those at the Academy. While financial impact is generally not a huge factor, as some of the lowest-grossing movies have won Best Picture, the combination of these factors may inhibit The Life of Chuck‘s chances. Most People’s Choice winners go on to have releases shortly after their TIFF screening, allowing them to ride the anticipation built from that award. Unfortunately, The Life of Chuck did not do this, and it may be to the film’s detriment.

Why Mike Flanagan’s TV Connects With Audiences More Than His Movies

Mike Flanagan’s Next TV Shows Will Be Based On Stephen King Stories

Most of Mike Flanagan’s projects have been horror-focused, and the director has become known for a very specific, very unique brand of the genre. Rather than focusing on shock value, Flanagan’s take on horror has been more cerebral and character-focused. His stories on Netflix have connected with audiences because they have had the space to burn slowly, and to be enjoyed episode by episode at the viewer’s own pace. Following this, future Flanagan projects, including a series based on Stephen King’s Carrie, look likely to be more successful than his films.

Horror does well at the multiplex, but auteur-driven horror is harder to sell, especially as Flanagan’s projects have been promoted on their storytelling quality rather than their thrills. Recent horror movies like Final Destination Bloodlines have delivered spectacle, whereas Flanagan’s stories have felt less like events and experiences and more like slow-burn, high-quality stories. Promoting The Life of Chuck, which is not a horror movie, despite coming from both a director and a writer who are famous for their horror adaptations, is a difficult task, and it appears not to have worked out in this case.

Why The Life Of Chuck’s Poor Box Office Isn’t Total Doom

Mike Flanagan’s Works Perform Well On Streaming, Including Doctor Sleep

The Life of Chuck could still become an awards player, and this would help bolster the film’s viewership and could even prompt a re-release. The Life of Chuck never seemed set to be a huge hit at the box office, and NEON’s expectations were likely not astronomically high. While the studio surely hoped that it would perform closer to their hits like Parasite and Longlegs, they also have a great focus on prestige, and the quality of Chuck can add to this. With the bulk of the studio’s releases making less than $10 million, Chuck is among good company.

Fortunately, Chuck will also be able to be a hit on digital. With Flanagan’s popularity on Netflix, the film will certainly be able to secure a handy paycheck for streaming rights. Movies with glowing reviews like Doctor Sleep were able to find their audience there and, with great reviews of its own, it is certain that Chuck will also be able to find an audience eventually. While this release does not seem to have panned out as hoped for, the quality of the film is very high, and that will be enough to push it to a streaming success eventually.

Related

The Life Of Chuck: How Mike Flanagan’s Movie Compares To The Original Stephen King Book

Mike Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck is based on the 2020 Stephen King novella of the same name, and there are some differences between the two.

It is disappointing that The Life of Chuck has failed to connect with audiences at the cinema, reaping a very disappointing box office for NEON. However, more than anything, this release speaks to the importance of capitalizing on the initial excitement behind a film. If The Life of Chuck had been released late last year, it would have been able to build on the anticipation that came from the movie’s TIFF win and parley that into a better run at the multiplex through awards season. Hopefully, the next TIFF People’s Choice Award winner will not make the same mistake.

The Life of Chuck

8/10

Release Date

May 30, 2025

Runtime

110 minutes

Producers

D. Scott Lumpkin, Elan Gale, Trevor Macy, Molly C. Quinn, Melinda Nishioka

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