<p content="Clint Eastwood's controversial new movie Richard Jewell has suffered a battering at the box office, making just $5m (£3.75m) on its opening weekend from 2,502 screens.” data-reactid=”31″ type=”text”>Clint Eastwood’s controversial new movie Richard Jewell has suffered a battering at the box office, making just $$4.7M on it’s opening weekend. The film is the veteran director’s worst opening weekend performance since his movie Bronco Billy in 1980.
Richard Jewell cost $45M to make, meaning it could end up costing millions in losses if it doesn’t pick up the pace in the coming weeks.The story centers on the real-life story of security guard Richard Jewell (played by Paul Walter Hauser), who found a pipe bomb at a stadium during the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 but soon became the FBI’s prime suspect. He was later cleared of any wrongdoing, but his life was turned upside down in the media that followed.
Eastwood’s depiction of his story has come under fire for suggesting that the reporter who broke the story of the FBI investigation traded sex for information. Olivia Wilde plays Kathy Scruggs, a real-life reporter who died in 2001, who sleeps with Jon Hamm’s agent Tom Shaw in the movie.
Editorial credit: Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock.com