Uganda is back on Hollywood screens thanks to Queen of Katwe, the true life story of chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi.
Even if you haven’t watched it, by now you know the storyline of the girl from Katwe slums who beat all the odds to become a chess champion.
With Hollywood heavyweights academy award winner Lupita Nyong’o acting Phiona Mutesi’s mother Harriet Nakku and David Oyelowo whose previous role was acting as Martin Luther King in the critically acclaimed Selma, the world was expected to be anticipating Queen of Katwe.
Couple that with rave reviews (91% score on Rotten Tomatoes) and you most likely have a box office hit on your hands, but this was far from the truth for the Mira Nair directed film.
Queen of Katwe that had its Ugandan premiere in a glitzy affair at Acacia Mall last weekend has been a disappointment when it comes to box office sales. The Disney film has so far grossed only $3m, a bad return to its $15m investment.
In its first week, it grossed $305,000 in 52 theatres and last weekend it was screened on 1242 screens, grossing about $2.6m.
The focus has now moved from the rave reviews to the dismal box office performance.
“Despite rave reviews and a consistent drum beat that this was worth your time and “the kind of movie you say you want,” the picture earned around $706,000 on Friday for a likely $2.1 million weekend, giving the film a poor $1.7k per-screen-average. That will give the $15m Mira Nair-directed offering a $2.6m domestic cume. Thanks a lot, moviegoers…” Forbes magazine reported.
Forbes, one of the most respected magazines hinted on the race issue as the reason of the poor performance, noting that most Disney heroes and heroines are white. On the contrary, Queen of Katwe had an entirely black cast.
“To be grimly fair, most of Disney’s prior minority-focused sports dramas had a white movie star as the audience surrogate/entry character (John Candy in Cool Runnings, Jon Hamm in Million Dollar Arm, Kevin Costner in McFarland, USA, etc.)”
However, Forbes admitted that it is a good movie that could do well with time.
“The good news is that it’s a great movie that will slowly find its audience.”
“Queen of Katwe is a well-reviewed movie with critically acclaimed actors. That makes the numbers mediocre,” Indie Wire reported.
“Queen of Katwe was ignored. It struggled to find an audience,” KUTV reported.
Will Queen of Katwe flop?
Hollywood is brutal and a movie is considered a flop if it fails to match its budget in revenues during its box office running, which is usually four weeks. But other revenues including TV screening rights and DVDs sales are also considered.
Queen of Katwe’s production budget was $15m. About half of that figure is estimated to have been used in promoting the film, which would bring the total cost to $22.5m.
Movies usually last an average of four weeks in theatres depending on performance. Those that do well are screened a little longer. If Queen of Katwe made $2.6m last week, it is expected to close revenue in the region of $11m. However, the trend indicates that revenue drops every week and the figure could be less for Queen of Katwe. There are a few films however whose revenue increases in subsequent weekend screenings. These are however very rare occurrences and maybe Queen of Katwe could be among them because it is a good film that people are likely to recommend their peers to watch.
The movie was compared to Slum Dog Millionaire by critics, but they are in different financial leagues. Both films cost $15m to make but Slum Dog Millionaire had a $377m revenue which Queen of Katwe cannot even dream of making.
Mira Nair’s ghosts
Director Mira Nair, a wife to Makerere University don Prof. Mahmood Mamdani is as good as one of the people who carry the Uganda flag in Hollywood. However, she has not registered much box office success. Imagine Queen of Katwe had been directed by Steven Spielberg; the figures could be very different. Mira Nair’s previous film The Reluctant Fundamentalist was a major box office flop. Shot for $15m like Queen of Katwe, it only grossed $2m at the box office. Queen of Katwe has so far managed $3m and it is still screening, which means she is doing much better than her previous offering.
Mira Nair’s 2004 film Vanity Fair was another flop, earning $19m compared to its $23m budget.
But her’s is not entirely a career of flops as Mira Nair’s 2001 release Monsoon Wedding earned $30.8m, which was a killing compared to its paltry $1.2m budget.
Oscar buzz
Queen of Katwe received rave reviews from critics and despite sluggish box office sales, critics words really matter when it comes to the awards season and it is expected to pick up a couple of nominations. Never know our own teen star Madina Nalwanga could be on the Oscar nominees’ list.
Ugandans earned big
Regardless of the movie’s performance at the box office, it was good for Ugandans who were involved in the project. It was shot in Uganda and South Africa and a good portion of the $15m budget was spent here. It could even have been better if government had incentives for attracting films here and that wouldn’t have called for a lot spending money in South Africa. Government was instead interested in over taxation, leading to them moving some scenes like chess tournaments to South Africa. Those could have had Ugandan actors, meaning more more for Ugandans.
Information available to us indicates that Phiona Mutesi was paid $19,000 (Shs63m) for the rights to her story. That is peanuts in Hollywood, but it means so much for a girl from the slums of Katwe who at one time couldn’t afford a meal.
Several musicians were paid in the regions of $1,500 (Shs5m) and $2,000 (Shs6.6m) for the rights of their songs. A Pass had four songs in the movie.
Actors, caterers, fashion designers, transport providers, hotels, fixers and the government all had a piece of the $15m which means it was a good thing for Uganda.
The movie opens in Ugandan cinemas this weekend. Hope you watch it and boost the box office figures.