There’s a case to be made that some movies are too timely for audiences, with the events still so fresh in the memory that turning it into mass-marketed entertainment just doesn’t appeal to prospective paying customers. Despite stellar reviews and awards season recognition, She Said bombed so hard it almost made history.
Director Maria Schrader’s investigative drama following a pair of journalists who begin pulling at threads and ultimate expose the horrific history of disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with an 88 percent critical approval rating, with the performances of the ensemble cast gaining several nominations from a variety of awards bodies.
And yet, after debuting to just $2.2 million at the domestic box office through its opening weekend, She Said came perilously close to setting an all-time record for the lowest-earning first frame for any feature to release in at least 2000 theaters, and it very nearly hit that unwanted benchmark for studio Universal, too.
Sure, it didn’t end up at the bottom of the pile, but a cumulative haul of under $14 million gained it the bizarre reputation of being the biggest bomb of last year that a lot of people never knew existed, such was the extend it flew under the radar with the general public.
Thank the heavens for streaming, then, because FlixPatrol naming She Said as one of the most-watched titles on the OSN platform this week has at least placed a victory in the “win” column at long last, for the sole reason that people are actually getting around to watching it.