Social Reckoning Box Office Numbers Fall Short
The Social Reckoning box office debut is proving underwhelming. Aaron Sorkin’s follow-up to The Social Network is on track to make only $5.5 million at the domestic box office this weekend, according to Sunday estimates.
That figure falls below the already modest $7 million to $8 million the studio had projected. It also means Sorkin’s new movie is unlikely to become a Social Network-sized hit.
The earlier film opened to $22 million and made $97 million domestically at 2010 ticket prices. It also won Sorkin an Oscar and became one of the most influential on-screen depictions of Silicon Valley and startup culture.
What the Social Reckoning Box Office Weekend Signals
Beyond the fate of a single film, the weekend’s returns could offer hints about audience excitement — or the lack of it — as a fall full of movies about villainous, real-world tech CEOs begins.
Alex Gibney’s four-hour documentary Musk also opened this weekend.
Nathan Fielder’s apparently uncategorizable Elizabeth Holmes documentary You Can See Everything arrives next weekend.
The OpenAI boardroom drama Artificial has a new distributor after being dropped by Amazon.
Outside theaters, Netflix also has a series called The Altruists coming in November, telling the story of Sam Bankman-Fried and the collapse of FTX.
Why the Social Reckoning Box Office Is Struggling
While The Social Network was a notable success, the theatrical landscape has changed significantly in the last 16 years.
Where the first film focused on the excitement and drama of Facebook’s early days, the sequel is darker and heavier. The Social Reckoning centers on whistleblower Frances Haugen’s decision to leak what became known as the Facebook files.
So maybe a movie about Senate hearings and algorithm changes was never going to be a big hit. Or maybe the real audience is among older moviegoers who have only returned sporadically to theaters. There is also the question of whether critiquing Facebook feels less urgent to audiences more likely to be losing sleep over AI.
Reviews and Reception
Maybe just as importantly, the new movie’s reviews just aren’t very good.
For what it’s worth, this writer enjoyed The Social Reckoning but will fully admit that it’s overloaded with Sorkin’s trademark speechifying. I couldn’t help dreaming about a version directed — like the original — by David Fincher, with a score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
How ‘Musk’ Performed
Musk, meanwhile, made $69,000 during its opening weekend in four theaters. It will roll out more broadly in the coming weeks, but given its length and subject matter, the documentary will probably reach many more viewers once it starts streaming on HBO Max.
The Social Reckoning arrived with the weight of a beloved predecessor behind it, but a darker subject and poor reviews have kept audiences away. Whether the broader slate of tech-CEO films finds a warmer reception remains an open question this fall.
