Just a few weeks after its theatrical rollout, on October 24th, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere has seen its campaign swiftly lose altitude. Although it was solidly in the Best Picture race after the fall festivals, placing in 60% of user predictions in mid-September, pundits have since jumped ship after the film opened to modest numbers and dwindling enthusiasm from critics.
Springsteen Underwhelms at Box Office
Similar musical biopics that eventually found success at the Academy Awards generally are extremely profitable box office hits. In recent years, A Complete Unknown grossed over $140 million worldwide, and Elvis nearly reached $290 million. As such, even the largest Deliver Me From Nowhere supporters were relying on fans of The Boss to show up at the theaters.
Even though the film’s theatrical run isn’t over yet, we unfortunately have a good sense that Springsteen will not be profitable. In its opening weekend domestically, it had a total gross of approximately $8.9 million, a low total, but not too far from the $11.6 million opening of A Complete Unknown. In its 2nd weekend, however, there was a 58% decline, down to $3.7 million, a significantly larger gap than A Complete Unknown ’s 30% or Elvis ’ 41%, which also had a $31 million opening weekend. Now, Springsteen is hovering at $30.4 million worldwide, with pundits anticipating the film only falters further from here.
Why audiences didn't show support
Multiple factors appear to be at play in this situation, but mainly, the film’s narrow focus seems to have worked against it. The movie covers the making of the album, Nebraska. While critically respected, it lacks the broader mainstream appeal and number-one hits. Additionally, the album is acoustic, which means that there are not many concert scenes, a mainstay of the musical biopic genre that is great for drawing in a general audience. Further, the film’s narrow focus also came with lower stakes. We watch an artist in the grips of a mental health struggle and attempting to create art, not a commercial product. This is a far cry from the epic spectacle that music biopics often entice viewers with. Simply put, audiences broadly didn't see a reason to care.
Where "Springsteen" stands in the awards conversation
From an awards perspective, such a sluggish box office run doesn’t immediately eliminate the film from contention, but it does complicate the narrative. Many films have overcome it with critical acclaim, which Springsteen: Deliver Me From No Where doesn't exactly have in spades. And in the case of music biopics, they often lean more heavily on box office success and audience enthusiasm rather than critical reception. Neither is there to support Springsteen.
The film's best shot is in Best Actor, where music biopics often excel. Jeremy Allen White received unanimous acclaim for his performance, but the number of Award Expert users predicting him is dropping fast. He's dropped out of 36% of users' predictions in the past 30 days as prognosticators pivot towards Ethan Hawke in Blue Moon and Wagner Moura for The Secret Agent. Unfortunately when a film loses steam, all boats tend to sink.