Air has become a huge financial hit, but despite not making back its budget, it’s still being hailed as a huge success. The 2023 movie was distributed by Amazon Studios, and it’s emerged as yet another prestigious release from the studio. The studio gave Air a worldwide theatrical release and heavily promoted the film as Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s proper on-screen reunion. As a result, the movie had a notable run at the box office, even in the face of stiff competition from the billion-dollar-grossing The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
The Affleck-directed movie grossed almost $75 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo), which was a huge result and easily beat Affleck and Damon’s last movie, The Last Duel, which only made back 30% of its budget. Unfortunately, Air’s budget was $90 million, meaning that the 2023 biopic couldn’t make back its budget either. It’s clear where that $90 million went, as Air is soaked in 1980s store facades, ’80s fashion, and ’80s sports cars, but giving a biopic that high of a budget was still a significant risk. That said, there’s a reason why Air is being called a box office success.
Air Was Originally Planned To Be Released On Amazon Prime Video
Air will be available on Amazon Prime Video in the coming weeks, and that isn’t because of a deal the movie studio struck with the streamer, but because Amazon Studios distributed the movie. Though Air received a theatrical release, that wasn’t actually the plan, as the movie was originally planned to be immediately available on the streaming service as an Amazon Prime Video exclusive. But Amazon changed its tune after overwhelmingly positive test screenings of Air (via Deadline). That success continued, as it ultimately earned an “A” CinemaScore and has since been called a return to form for Affleck as a director.
Air’s Box Office Gross Is All Profit
The general rule of thumb is that a movie needs to make 2.5 times its budget to be profitable, as marketing costs are equal to the production costs, and then there’s the matter of the movie theaters’ cut. If Air was made by a movie studio with the same budget, the film would need to make $225 million to be successful. However, as it was made for Amazon Prime, the studio originally had no intention to make any money from it whatsoever. If Air did go straight to the streaming service instead of being theatrically released, it would likely have had the same marketing budget to promote its streaming release as well.
As a result, Air was a box office success and essentially all profit for the studio since Amazon never planned to make any money from a theatrical release when it approved its $90 million budget. This move also marks the start of a small trend in Hollywood. Studios were quick to greenlight direct-to-streaming movies when the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way people watch movies. However, now that movies are getting large audiences again, studios are theatrically releasing films that were originally planned to be streaming releases. Warner Bros. went a similar route with Evil Dead Rise, which also benefited from this approach.
