When Julia Roberts Sells Out, She Sells Out Hard
By Dustin Rowles | Industry | May 2, 2016 |
By Dustin Rowles | Industry | May 2, 2016 |
Mother’s Day opened over the weekend with a woefully disappointing $8.3 million, compared to the $56 million opening of Valentine’s Day back in 2010. Apparently, the appetite for shitty montage-movies with recognizable stars just isn’t as there as it used to be, although the reviews — and the racist subplot — probably didn’t help matters. The film was terrible.
The film is also notable because apparently the production couldn’t afford a new wig for Julia Roberts, so she re-used her wig from Notting Hill.
They probably couldn’t afford a wig because production put all their money to paying for those recognizable stars, including Julia Roberts, who earned more than a 1/3 of the opening weekend’s grosses for just four days’ work. According to Variety, Roberts earned $3 million for her short work-week, or as much as Bruce Willis was offered — and turned down — to appear in Expendables 3 (Harrison Ford gladly accepted the paycheck in his stead, and buried it with the rest of the money under his soul). Roberts similarly earned $3 million for four days work in Valentine’s Day, in spite of the fact that Roberts hasn’t had a box-office hit other than Valentine’s Day since Eat, Pray, Love, the most unctuous movie of the century.
There’s a cute irony here, too, in that the only funny scene in the entire film is an outtake during the credits, in which Roberts amusingly loses her patience while waiting for a very, very long train to pass. “How long is this fucking train?” she finally says to the camera.
For four days work and $3 million, waiting five minutes for a train to pass is really the least she can do.
