The latest from director Steven Soderbergh opened strong this past weekend, nearly doubling its modest $2 million budget. In total, the film grossed $3.7 million in its first three days of wide release.
We reviewed the film last week, and gave it a positive rating thanks especially to the strong direction and camerawork from Soderbergh.
While Flight Risk (starring Mark Wahlberg and directed by Mel Gibson) was the biggest winner at the box office with $12 million, the budget of that film was $25 million.
At Screen Love Affair, we think it’s important to celebrate film whenever we can. While others will try to frame Presence as a box office flop, this is an undeniable win for a relatively low budget movie.
As a regular theatergoer, I follow Dan Murrell’s weekly Charts With Dan, not out of an obsession with corporate profits, but to understand how these figures shape the kinds of movies we get to see. While the fixation on box office performance often feels reductive, by reducing art to dollar signs, it’s impossible to ignore its impact on what gets greenlit.
As fans of movies though, our focus should be on the stories and craftsmanship, not the dollar signs. Films like Presence prove that there’s still an audience for unique projects that can both enrich the cinematic landscape and still turn a profit.
Not every film needs to rake in hundreds of millions, nor should every project require blockbuster budgets. There’s enough to lament about the state of cinema and the theatrical experience, so let’s celebrate the presence of every box office victory, no matter how small they may seem.