14 DAY TRIAL // Before its October release date, there was plenty of hype around “The Fifth Estate,” the story of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with Benedict Cumberbatch as lead. Since then, there’s been complete radio silence and that’s because the film simply failed to register with moviegoers.
Critics also had a blast tearing it to pieces, though most agreed that Cumberbatch’s performance was perhaps the one thing that made it worth the while.
To say that “The Fifth Estate” was a disappointment is quite the understatement, especially since Forbes magazine has already named it the biggest flop of the year, considering its budget, marketing, pre-release hype, and the actual box office figures.
As it turns out, Cumberbatch knew it would never achieve blockbuster status, as he makes it clear in a new interview cited by Contact Music. Even when he talks about failing, this is one actor who maintains his grace and delicacy, and knows how to sweeten the pill.
“Well I always thought that Disney and Dreamworks were odd bedfellows for such a specialist topic, really. The parallel is ‘The Social Network,’ but everyone uses Facebook, not everyone is au fait with WikiLeaks. This was never going to be popcorn multiplex film,” he says, when asked how he feels about the film being a flop.
“Whether the film has a big box office or not, the response to how I have performed has done me huge favors. You know, it's the first lead role I've had and it's caused this much attention,” Cumberbatch continues.
So at least he chooses to take something positive out of the experience. “The Fifth Estate” made a mere $1.7 million (€1.2 million) in its opening weekend, though it’d been made on a budget of $28 million (€20.3).
Asked directly if he thinks such a poor performance in sales of this film might have affected his chances at the Academy Awards 2014, Cumberbatch is frank: “I think so, but then I never really held out for that.”
As noted above, despite the poor box office performance, there still are some industry people who believe Cumberbatch will get a nod for it at the Oscars. After all, everyone knows that Oscar-favorite movies are rarely popular with mainstream audiences: just think of how little money “The Hurt Locker” made and it was one of the most critically acclaimed releases of 2009, even winning Best Director at the Oscars 2010.