Things Going Right for Michael Bay's "13 Hours:" Film a Success with Critics and at Box Office
During my weekly podcast with Binh Ngo, I was low on Michael Bay’s “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.”
Although Bay loves the military (its soldiers and many gadgets) and can make a highly entertaining action film, I didn’t think his fans care much about Benghazi, the subject of the film. Bay’s better at producing mindless entertainment like the “Transformers” films and not ones based on controversial world events.
There’s a disconnect between the film’s subject matter and his fanbase. He’s trying to make “Zero Dark Thirty” for the “Transformers” demo.
Because of the aforementioned reasons, I was predicting a low weekend box office opening of $10M and a score in the 30% range on Rotten Tomatoes.
How wrong I was. “13 Hours” grossed nearly $6M on Friday and is estimated to finish the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday with over $20M, more than twice my prediction.
On Rotten Tomatoes, it scored a barely Fresh score of 60%, which is relatively good (and again, double my number), considering that most of Bay’s films score in the 20s and 30s. It’s the action director’s best reviewed film since “The Rock,” which scored 66% two decades ago.
With this mission out of the way, Bay can put the military back to work on his next project, the tentatively titled “Transformers 5.”
Podcast regarding "13 Hours's" box office potential:
"13 Hours" Trailer:
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About Senh Duong
Senh created and operated Rotten Tomatoes out of his apartment at one point before coming together with friends to turn it into a real company. He's back to doing what he loves with Movies With Butter.
