We can not say that they were haters, but on Friday morning more than one went up to social networks to emphasize that Misanthrope, the new film by Damián Szifron, had taken less than 4,000 spectators on Thursday, the day of its premiere in Argentina.
The figures of the weekend (38,471 tickets sold, that is, almost multiplied by 10 what it did on Thursday) closed their mouths and showed that the thriller with connotations of drama of the creator of The Simulators had and has the potential to continue its path on the Argentine billboard.
Now, there were many circumstances why Misanthrope did not become the immediate success that many predicted. Let's move on to analyze them.
Damian Szifron. "Misanthrope" was shot in Montreal, had many theaters, but few functions and many copies in Spanish... Photo Gabriel Machado
First, releasing on the same Thursday as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (393,101 tickets from Thursday to Sunday, 435,725 with Wednesday preview screenings), may have been the least fortunate decision. Why, if they supposedly target somewhat different audiences? Because all Marvel films premiere in a huge number of complexes and theaters throughout the country, leaving very little room -screens- to the rest of the films that were already on the billboard, or premiere simultaneously.
James Gunn's film with Chris Pratt opened in more than half of theaters nationwide (516 theaters in 224 complexes, according to Ultracine). And in the vast majority of its rooms, at all times.
Misanthrope, no. It had a very good start in terms of the number of rooms (from 123 it reached 131 because they added some on the weekend), but that number calls for confusion, because in most cases it was projected in one or two functions only.
In other words, it was necessary to search, and with a magnifying glass, the schedules of the projections.
And another one against, which gives for a later and broader debate: many of the copies of the film shot in Montreal, which passes itself off in Baltimore, United States, were in Spanish, not in the original language -English- with subtitles. And I know that many who wanted to go see the film, fled in terror to learn that the offer was with Shailene Woodley (Under the same star) and Ben Mendelsohn (Ready Player One) dubbed into neutral Spanish.
I don't know if Misanthrope is a movie for moviegoers. But the Argentine public prefers and is accustomed to hearing the original voices, not dubbed as it happens in Spain.
Another analysis that can be done is where people went most massively to see the film in which a police officer is recruited by a disgraced FBI agent, to track down and hunt down a serial killer, who is not a crazy terrorist or the typical Hollywood villain.
As could be expected, it fared better in the cinemas of the City of Buenos Aires than in the interior. In Rosario and Córdoba, two strongholds, it did not make the difference that was expected.
I insist on this: it is not that the distribution of the screens has been wrong. The problem is that the functions were scarce, and if they were in Castilian...
Another debate is whether Misanthrope should be considered an Argentine film. And, no, because the only thing that has made in our country are the director and the director of photography (Javier Juliá, the same of Wild Stories and the most recent Argentina, 1985). For those who want to estimate or value it as Argentine, Misanthrope in four days on the bill ranks fourth in the year, behind La extorsión, Francella's, Asfixiados, with Sbaraglia and Julieta Díaz, Argentina, 1985 and El método Tangalanga. The extortion has 465,000 since its premiere on April 6.
Does the audience, when they choose to go see a film and pay the entrance, do they do it for the names of the performers, for the director or for the plots? Except for Santiago Mitre, remember the names of those who directed La extorsión, Asphyxiados and El método Tangalanga?
These are no longer the times when films with casts headed by Ricardo Darín, Guillermo Francella, Adrián Suar, Diego Peretti or Pablo Echarri reached easy, the million spectators. Except Argentina, 1985, of course.
It remains to be seen whether or not the number of Misanthrope theaters changes from Thursday, where there is no premiere of Hollywood tanks planned. Those who decide the output, the number of copies, are the exhibitors, the owners of the complexes, and the distributors. And although it may seem that the first have the last word, in reality the viewers have it.
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