Synopsis of Babylon
Babylon, which is set in the 1920s as talkies began to replace silent movies, explores the beginnings of Hollywood’s Golden Age.
Babylon explores the rise and fall of multiple characters, who are a blend of real and fictional individuals.
Brad Pitt’s character is reported to be based on John Gilbert, a silent film star whose career declined when talkies started taking over. Actress Clara Bow, who successfully made the switch to talkies and came to personify the Roaring Twenties, is portrayed by Margot Robbie.
Then there is Jean Smart, who is presumably portraying the fictional Hollywood journalist/critic who has the power to create or ruin careers.
Main cast of Babylon
Brad Pitt as Jack Conrad
Margot Robbie as Nellie LaRoy
Diego Calva as Manuel “Manny” Torres
Jean Smart as Elinor St. John
Jovan Adepo as Sidney Palmer
Li Jun Li as Lady Fay Zhu
Reactions after the release of the film
On December 23, Babylon had its US debut, which is typically a very successful day for a theatre release.
Surprisingly poor box office results were reported for the most recent star-studded movie starring Australian actress Margot Robbie on its opening weekend.
The production of Babylon reportedly cost $US80 million, making it difficult for it to make profit or even break even.
Over the Christmas holiday, Babylon only made a pitiful $US3.5 million. Since then, it has gradually increased to $US5.3 million as of December 27.
The movie needs to make $250 million worldwide to break even, according to the company. At this rate, the movie’s domestic box office take is probably going to be less than $20 million, so it’s up to foreign viewers to love Babylon and support Paramount in making a profit at the box office.
However there are a lot of fans of the movie showing love to the decadent film-making and acting shown by the star studded cast.
