‘Here’ Misfires With $5M; Robert Zemeckis Says “Theatrical Movie Business Is In A Stressful Situation Right Now”: What Happened With ‘Forrest Gump’ Reteam At B.O.

deadline.com:

Robert Zemeckis has always been about a great technological or storytelling conceit in his movies whether it’s the live-action animated hybrid of the 3x Oscar winning Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, the insertion of Tom Hanks in famed historical footage in Oscar Best Picture Forrest Gump or the motion capture of The Polar Express.

However, his latest movie, the $50M Miramax financed and Sony released Here, which brings back together the Gump gang of Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and scribe Eric Roth, was a situation of technology outshining the story.

Critics deep sixed the multi-generation family drama which takes place in one location throughout time at a fixed angle with 36% Rotten while audiences weren’t any better with a B- CinemaScore, 57% RT audience score and 69% positive on PostTrak.

It’s no wonder that the movie opened to $5M, and it’s unfortunate box office streak for the once blockbuster mass-appealing Back to the Future, Oscar-winning Forrest Gump director, his most recent bombs being Welcome to Marwen ($2.4M opening, $10.7M domestic, $13M WW) and 2015’s The Walk ($1.56M opening, $10M domestic, $61M WW); titles which also saw technology trump story.