Robbie Williams isn’t really a thing here in America. I’m sure he has some fans here, but there’s something about him which simply didn’t translate from the UK to America. He’s a HUGE pop star in the UK and throughout Europe, and I believe he’s big in Asia and Australia as well. I could see how some people would have believed that Robbie is big enough to do a general bio-pic, but I’m flabbergasted at the series of bad decisions which led people to convince themselves that Robbie needed a high-concept pseudo bio-pic in which he plays himself, except he’s a chimpanzee. Bonkers concept, and of course absolutely no one wanted to see it.
Another newcomer, Paramount’s musical biopic “Better Man,” in which a CGI monkey portrays the British singer Robbie Williams, hit all the wrong notes with a paltry $1 million from 1,291 venues, albeit a smaller screen count than the average nationwide release. The film, directed by “The Greatest Showman’s” Michael Gracey, captures the rise of the best-selling local artist through the lens of a chimp because, as Williams puts it, he always felt “less evolved than other people.” Even across the pond, where Williams is more well known than he is in the States, “Better Man” faltered with $1.9 million to start and $4.7 million to date. Those ticket sales aren’t a good sign for commercial prospects, although “Better Man” has been well reviewed.
“Better Man” was produced independently for roughly $110 million and acquired by Paramount for $25 million. Musical biopics have been on the upswing, with films about Amy Winehouse, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Whitney Houston and Bob Dylan in theaters in just the past three years, but some (“Back to Black” was another misfire) are destined to sing off key at the box office.
“Robbie Williams played by a digitally animated chimpanzee [is] an outlandish choice. For anyone complaining that the industry plays it too safe, this is your movie,” says Gross. “The risk-taking is excellent, but $110 million is not realistic for the genre and for this musical artist. $25 to $30 million would have made more sense.”
“Better Man” opened in 14th place, way behind specialty releases that were playing in far fewer locations. A24’s “The Brutalist.”
They lost me at “produced independently for roughly $110 million.” These people are lunatics!! WTF?? I could actually understand (maybe) doing an animated film about a pop star who is beloved outside of America. I could also understand doing a straight bio-pic or maybe even just a documentary or docuseries – I would actually watch a docuseries about Robbie Williams’ life and career. But blowing through $110 million on a fruity bio-pic where “Robbie” is played by an animated monkey?? Come on. What the hell were these people thinking?
Photos courtesy of Better Man’s IG and Cover Images.
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- Amsterdam Premiere Of ‘Better Man’ Featuring: Robbie Williams Where: Amsterdam, Netherlands When: 10 Dec 2024 Credit: Abaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Amsterdam Premiere Of ‘Better Man’ Featuring: Robbie Williams Where: Amsterdam, Netherlands When: 10 Dec 2024 Credit: Abaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- ‘Better Man’ premiere at Le Grand Rex Featuring: Robbie Williams Where: Paris, France When: 13 Dec 2024 Credit: Starface Photo/Cover Images **UK AND USA RIGHTS ONLY**
“I could also understand doing a straight bio-pic or maybe even just a documentary or docuseries – I would actually watch a docuseries about Robbie Williams’ life and career.”
There is, in fact, a 4-part Netflix Robbie Williams docuseries, from 2023. It was excellent.
I honestly missed it! I will look for it.
Came here to say this. It is indeed pretty good. I am a fan of his from way back in the day……but not a big enough fan to see the movie.
Exactly the Take That boy band to global star with lots of parting and drugs story is kinda interesting. No one really cares about RW now and much less a cgi chimp.
Replying here to say he’s not actually playing himself nor is that him singing the songs. They got an actor and a singer to do that.
There is a Netflix docuseries about Robbie Williams, made a few years ago, which was a relative success in the UK/Europe at least.. I don’t understand the need for this bio pic.
I backpacked overseas a lot while Robbie Williams was at his peak (1999-2006) – Rock DJ, Let me entertain you, Angels, Better Man etc. were playing EVERYWHERE in Australia, NZ, SE Asia. UK. He’s got mega hits and sold millions of records.
I watched the Netflix doc and couldn’t believe Americans didn’t really know him – especially his wife, who I didn’t really believe. But I guess his songs didn’t get the air time over here.
That said – I saw only two trailers for this and was utterly confused. Is it a movie? A new Broadway musical? An animated film? This marketing campaign should be studied in years to come.
Long time lurker, first time poster – from the UK!
Honestly, not surprised by this. The only person on the planet who thinks this was a good financial investment would be Robbie Williams!
I don’t mind him – I think he’s deeply affected by his experience with fame but can’t see a way to *not* be famous.
But he enjoys success here in the UK, mainly as he was part of Take That, a group that were massive in the 90s. But other than 90s/2000s nostalgia, his recent music (ie last 10+ years) hasn’t done much here at all.
PS there is a Robbie doc on Netflix! He sits in bed as he looks back over his life/career. It’s bonkers but worth a watch!
I feel like is one of those celebrities that pays a lot to a PR company to keep him in the Press as he’s really not interesting and it feels like he’s always being pushed when nobody cares about his music anymore.
So he’s like a British Justin Timberlake?
Haha, @whatever! Yes can see the comparison.
Take That definitely didn’t come to America. I couldn’t name one song of theirs. I only know him as a solo artist.
But he already did the netflix one, why do another?
What’s the point of this biopic? The Netflix series about him was not enough?
Huh. I’ve seen ads for this movie but just thought it was a quirky musical, nothing in the ads indicated that it was a Robbie Williams biopic (maybe the music but I wouldn’t have recognized that?) I couldn’t figure out the monkey thing so just tuned out the ads.
It’s a bold choice for 110 million.
In the UK we used to have a political satire called ‘Yes Minister’ (later ‘Yes Prime Minister’).
In it, civil servants basically manipulated politicians to maintain the status quo.
There was a running joke about ‘courageous’ decisions (code for career ending), and that’s what I thought of reading your comment.
I do wonder how much money Robbie Williams personally lost with this bizarre film.
Same. I’d glance up at the TV from time to time & see the promos, thinking it was some new twist on Planet of the Apes. Boy, was I wrong.
There is a documentary about him on Netflix. I’ve only seen one clip where he was getting a police escort to the stadium. The scene puzzled me because according to the British press the police don’t give protection to celebrities. This biopic just shows how much of an egomaniac he is. It may have worked if it was just a TV movie.
Honestly, the press before Christmas made me feel like I was living in the Emperor’s New Clothes. I looked it up when my mother said she wanted to go and see it and everyone online seemed to think this was a wonderful idea and a brilliant film while I was sitting there going ‘a monkey. He’s played by a monkey. WTF?’
This film must have had a brilliant and well connected PR team is all I can say.
I watched his Netflix docu and was bored to years,I remember he was charming and cheeky during his hell raiser phase. He also.didnt speak much about his background and how he grew up.
There must be a middle ground between “playing it too safe” and flushing $135 million down the toilet. As for “less evolved than other people,” chimps are fully evolved, thank you very much.
@Eurydice, I bumped on that “evolved” business too. It sounded to me like an excuse for bad behavior, which is not his reputation (or he’d be known as “bad-boy singer RW” or similar). So then apparently it’s some kind of “I am so special” humblebrag or something.
The whole thing reeks of ego.
Edit: And stop dragging the chimps into it.
I saw the trailer for this movie in the theatre near Ottawa. It looks completely ridiculous. I was with my 82-year-old mother and she turned to me and said why on earth did they make this nonsense?
As others have said, I can’t imagine who thought this was a good idea or who they thought would shell out money to go and see this
I had the same experience! I saw the ads for this with my mother (another babyboomer) and she was flabbergasted. Why is he a monkey? I’m a big Beatles fan, but if they put out a biopic where all four of them wore walrus masks for two hours, I’d have to pass.
If you have five minutes, you may enjoy their original music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6hhjW9WEPQ&t=116s
At least one is in a walrus mask.
I think this would do great 20 years ago but now it’s just not interesting anymore. People have moved on
THIS. And I have a feeling a lot of these old celebrities who were popular in the 90s have a hard time understanding they’re simply no longer relevant or interesting, especially to young people.
Robbie is very charming but his ego is massive. You’re not that interesting enough for this type of concept film babe.
Dr. Zaius
Everyone I know who has seen this has said it was brilliant, even if you don’t like Robbie Williams. I think this is a case of people commenting because they don’t like him rather than watching the film. I’m not a RW fan, highly irritating, but review bombing without watching is only going to lead to less cinematic releases and less interesting films being made.
Or the trailer was enough for people to not be interested. Trailers have to do an effective job at selling the show. The trailer was weird in a not-interesting way regardless of Williams himself. Being weird doesn’t automatically mean interesting.
Also, people are free to watch a film and dislike it. There are plenty of weird films that I enjoy because they’re fun. Doesn’t mean they’re cinematic masterpieces. And with those, they didn’t spend $110 million of personal money.
Yeah, the issue is, if the trailer isn’t selling the movie, then people aren’t going to see the movie. Trailers are meant to get people to want to see a movie, hopefully enough to actually go to the theater. This movie might be amazing, but the trailer doesn’t convey that. At all.
I know pretty much nothing about RW, beyond “UK celebrity”.
MrsBanjo and Beck’s comments describe my experience: It was the trailer itself that put me off the film, made it seem like something I had no interest in seeing. (I commented with details elsewhere in the thread) It wasn’t anything about RWs himself.
I like some offbeat storytelling, but the trailer did not seem like this film’s offbeat was my flavor of offbeat (i also
skipped all the recent Planet of the Apes, Cats and Sing … apparently CGI apes and CGI / animated animals performing musical numbers while dressed like people just aren’t my thing, no matter who is behind it creatively)
I tried to watch his Netflix docuseries and found it was just navel-gazing blather. I didn’t even realize this movie was about him, I just saw the ads and thought someone decided to do a version of Planet of the Apes where the apes weren’t at war with us.
Me, too! I thought they were bringing back the Planet of the Apes in some manner. A typical Hollywood move, redo something that had previously worked.
I remember seeing the ads and thinking “yuk”
Uncanny Valley animation creepiness + talking animals dressed in clothes + Rudy underdog makes good + angry male smashing things while people comfort him? And the chimp jumpy energy and fangs reminding me that chimps kept as pets sometimes rip people’s faces off when they grow up.
Yeah, nothing about it made me want to even make it through the trailer, much less go sit in a theater.
Wow you somehow managed to capture exactly how I felt watching the previews. No thanks to this one!!!!!!
Has anyone seen the film?
I mean, I’m not a Robbie fan but I liked the big challenging idea of the film and that it’s by the director of The Greatest Showman – which also faltered on first weeks – so, we should at least see it before committing it only being a bad commercially?!
I’d always rather than a boring biopic, have an interesting idea and that leading to something more truthful… but I’ll wait till I see it before judgement.
I feel quite comfortable judging the movie based on the trailer they gave us. No thanks, not seeing it. They aren’t owed my time or my money.
I’ve saw the movie three times now. And have enjoyed it immensely each time and cried at all the same bits. Was never a Robbie fan (I didn’t hate him but was not a fan) I was too young to be a fan of take that as well.
This movie made me a fan, made me go back to his old catalogue of songs and realise he was always very honest in his songs how badly he was struggling. And now have tickets to go see his show in Edinburgh.
The movie looks fantastic, and the cgi is flawless.
I think people will really regret waiting till streaming to watch this movie.
Ya’ll complain about Hollywood not making original movies and then when they actually do you moan about it.
It’s a tale as old as time.
You do not need to know who RW is to watch this movie and be moved by it.
It’s got a 77 critic score and 7.1 audience score on Metacritic so I really think this was just very bad luck and maybe having spent too much on production (assuming the special effects) to enter profit easily.
If a film is good it shouldn’t really matter if you are familiar with the subject matter, IMO?
Perhaps the issue was over saturation, I also wondered why he was doing autobiographical movie so shortly after doing his autobiographical docu series?
I still think it’s bad luck more than anything else though… maybe destined for cult status?
Money grab. Ego display. Did he also do a memoir?
This movie was finished right before the pandemic and has been sitting on a shelf because the studio knew it was bad. They only released it in theaters now because they knew the poor box office would be free advertisement for its streaming debut, which I believe is next Wednesday.
Pret: What?
Where did you hear they had completely finished the film by 2019?
And, scanning the trades there is nothing that it goes direct to streaming on Wed…
Just can’t believe this type of information without background or links. Lol
I was just kidding about the streaming date but they started working on this film in 2020. That’s when I first heard about it in a lad rag, then later read that it was ‘nearly completed’ but the chimp animation was taking longer than they thought. Regardless. I’m not sure who this film is for. I lived in Asia during his peak and while he was popular among expats, he never fully developed a crazed-fan following among locals.
I was more Boyzone than Take That as a teen and did appreciate some of his solo songs when they came along (NOT Angels).
This trailer showed before almost every film I went to see in recent months so there was a big push for it but I was a hard nope from the the start. Who (other than Robbie) thought there was appetite for this? I’ve seen one review (The Guardian I think) and they were pretty meh and said the highlight was the choice to put the chimp in a tracksuit and give it a perm at one point.
If they’d made a good/quirky film with the chimp and his songs it might have worked but I can’t see who is supposed to be the audience for this in 2025.
My local movie theater has $5 Monday Mystery Movies where you just show up with no idea what you are going to see; Better Man was last week’s movie. I’m American and have only a vague concept of Robbie Williams and Take That, so I walked in with zero expectations, but I was blown away by this movie. I absolutely loved it. Every moment was so beautifully planned; you can really see all $110M on screen. I usually think biopics are so boring, but this one had an electric energy to it.
For anyone who liked Moulin Rouge, Rocketman or Across The Universe, this is in the same joyfully surreal musical style.
I understand why the studio had so much confidence in it, but I think the marketing let them down badly; I wouldn’t have chosen to watch this movie on its own. It’s a really weird concept, but seeing is believing. I may not have walked out a new Robbie Williams fan, but I’m definitely excited to see more from Michael Gracey.
Considering he made that video years ago where he strips off all his clothes followed by his skin until he’s down to a skeleton, and I think on roller skates?, the chimp thing isn’t that shocking
What is shocking is that I saw a decent amount of tweets saying that it was enjoyable to watch. I really never imagined it might be good
I remember Take That having one hit in the U.S. I was in high school, so mid-late 90s. It was “Want You Back”. I think they were kind of the precursor to the return of the boy band craze in America (BSB, N’Sync, 98 Degrees). Whatever America is doing, Britain has probably already just done it and I don’t think a lot of us are aware of it. For example, I was going to school in the UK when Pop Idol started and the next year, American Idol which became huge started.
I guess the point I’m trying to make is that Robbie has had a good deal of influence on American pop culture that a lot of Americans don’t even realize.
Does anyone remember Robbie’s song “Rock DJ” from the early aughts? Still one of my all time favorite dance tunes.
When I saw the concept of this film, I could not imagine this doing well. Bonkers, indeed.
Edit: The Take That song was “Back for Good.” My eldest millennial brain isn’t as good at remembering as it used to be.
My local movie theater has $5 Monday Mystery Movies where you just show up with no idea what you are going to see; Better Man was last week’s movie. I’m American and have only a vague concept of Robbie Williams and Take That, so I walked in with zero expectations, but I was blown away by this movie. I absolutely loved it. Every moment was so beautifully planned; you can really see all $110M on screen. I usually think biopics are so boring, but this one had an electric energy to it.
For anyone who liked Moulin Rouge, Rocketman or Across The Universe, this is in the same joyfully surreal musical style.
I understand why the studio had so much confidence in it, but I think the marketing let them down badly; I wouldn’t have chosen to watch this movie if I’d been actually picking. It’s a really weird concept, but seeing is believing. I may not have walked out a new Robbie Williams fan, but I’m definitely excited to see more from Michael Gracey.
I like the concept…and can not WAIT to stream it!
The fact that Robbie NEVA did over here in 🇺🇸 what Harry Styles has done will ALWAYS fascinate me…because LAWD KNOWS HE TRIED!
I have friends who’ve seen this and said it was actually really good – they are Robbie fans though.
For me, I think the chimp angle is too much to get past, and I suspect this will be the case for most people. It’s just so unserious.
I’m biased as I never liked Take That or his solo stuff, but the documentary was fascinating.
He’s very high maintenance, never actually enjoyed his fame and has a huge chip on his shoulder about being a ‘performer’ rather than an artist/musician.
He had a long suffering songwriter who wrote all his famous songs, he ended up sacking him when he thought said songwriter became too big for his boots.
He then wrote an album all by himself… it was terrible. He was not ready for the reviews!
Unlike the fawning Beckham doc (which came out at the same time) this one was psychologically so revealing. RW is eternally unsatisfied, unable to be alone, or even sit back and enjoy his success. Being married to him must be exhausting!
We saw the trailer for this when we went to see Gladiator II in the theater. Out of the roughly ten trailers that played before the film started, this one stood out the most, pretty much just for being very weird and random. I’m American and not familiar with Williams, so I had no idea who the subject was or why he should be represented by a monkey. I won’t say it looked like a bad movie? The concept seemed interesting and the CGI decent, but not enough to make me want to go see it.
Well, it happens. They took a risk and it doesn’t seem to have worked. I suspect he’ll still be fine.
I am legit intrigued. With the fires, obviously I am distracted. I will see it cus I kinda like weird movies. I’m here for it.
I heard this film discussed as an aside in a podcast I was listening to, the journalist, who knew nothing about Robbie Williams, and was initially put off by the whole concept, gave it rave reviews.
I was never a Take That or Robbie Williams fan, but I was put off by the trailer more than lack of fandom — a monkey in a musical. Then, I read some glowing reviews from commentators who claimed it was a parody, satire, and people who won’t watch it are too stupid to get it, blah, blah, blah. Put me off even more from seeing it.
What do you mean by calling it “fruity”? I’m hoping you aren’t using that word in the slang, slur way as that seems out of character. It was just jarring to read.
Chimpanzees are apes not monkeys.
Ha! You got to it before I could–I’m way out here in Hawaii behind everyone–but I just can’t let things like that pass! 🦍🦧 🚫🐒
Someone has a HUGE ego. I’ve heard of him, but I’m old so I was alive during his Take That days and the little hit ( I can’t even remember the name) he had here. Why would he think that anyone is interested in his life story, especially when it’s presented in such a “unique” way.
Let me do the obligatory too-many-years-of-anthropology-to-let-pass: ape, not monkey. (Easy tell: no tail.) Please and thank you.
Well I may be a bit bias as RW is my sisters Boss. Although I haven’t seen the Movie, I heard it got good reviews. I did get to finally meet him a TIFF last September but was working so couldn’t see the premier during the day. I was lucky I got an invite to the afterparty … and it AWESOME! He is definitely a HUGE SUCCESS in the UK, Europe Asia.. etc. Currently going to be preforming in South Africa next week to 3 huge sold out shows. Anyhoo I cant bash the man that is kind to my sister, his entire staff and crew. She has said he’s the best BOSS she’s ever worked for and she’s worked for almost everyone famous.
P.s She is a background vocalist, dancer..etc
I feel bad for RW but I cant comment on the Movie..
I remember Robbie from the early aughts with that Millennium song. Last I’ve heard of him he was fighting with Jimmy Page over some underground pool.
I remember seeing this trailer with a friend, and she I turned to each other like ??? We thought it was a satire, like a commercial preempting the actual movie trailers. I assume there was humor in the intention behind it, but it just slammed into bizarre.
I went to this movie with no preconceptions or expectations (and as a casual Robbie fan, NZ) and loved it. The monkey thing was pretty random but actually really worked. Crazy it cost so much to make.. but I’m actually surprised it hasn’t done better, it was really enjoyable and I looked up some reviews after seeing it and they were also good. Go see it before judging the monkey 😆
I like the concept but I wouldn’t pay a cinema ticket for it. I’ll probably stream it though.
Money laundering?
Hiding money for an incoming lawsuit?