It's not shocking that following the barrage of sexual abuse and harassment accusations leveled against Kevin Spacey that his latest film, Billionaire Boys Club, wouldn't fare well at the box office. But the movie that was released in eight theaters in various smaller cities around the country is a colossal bomb that is set to make $425 total for the weekend, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film based on an '80s-era club of wealthy boys whose ponzi scheme goes awry stars Ansel Elgort and Taron Egerton. Spacey, who plays real-life con man Ron Levin, wrapped filming well before dozens of sexual misconduct allegations were made against him beginning with actor Anthony Rapp last fall. Rapp said that Spacey molested him when he was 14.
Spacey's response to the allegations was to pivot attention from the alleged crime and come out as gay.
Responding to disturbing allegations about the Oscar winner's serial predations, director Ridley Scott replaced him at the 11th hour in All the Money in the World, reshooting all of Spacey's scenes with Christopher Plummer in time for a holiday release. Meanwhile, the Netflix series House of Cards dropped him, writing his lead character out of the show and passing the baton to Robin Wright to lead the cast.
Billionaire Boys Club's distributor Vertical Entertainment weighed in on the controversy around the actor earlier this summer, saying it hoped his presence wouldn't affect the film.
"We hope these distressing allegations pertaining to one person's behavior -- that were not publicly known when the film was made almost two-and-a-half years ago and from someone who has a small, supporting role in Billionaire Boys Club -- does not tarnish the release of the film," Vertical said. "In the end, we hope audiences make up their own minds as to the reprehensible allegations of one person's past, but not at the expense of the entire cast and crew present on this film."
Despite the presence of popular young actors like Elgort (Baby Driver) and Egerton (the Kingsman movies) in the film, it would appear from the box office total of Billionaire Boys Club that Spacey is completely persona non grata.
To be fair, the movie was released on VOD last month, but the box office is still particularly abysmal, according to THR.
The film made $126 on its first day in release with a top gross of $45 in Middletown, Conn. The box office tallies in various cities where it was released only went down from there. The movie made $9 in Antioch, Calif. and $10 in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn. area.
