On paper, The Rhythm Section had a lot of things going for it. The film featured performances from major stars such as Oscar-nominated actor Jude Law and Blake Lively. The project was also backed by Eon producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, who are known for their involvement in the Bond franchise. The Rhythm Section is based upon a series of books by Mark Burnell, and seemed like the beginning of a new franchise. Yet the film was released in the month of January, often regarded as the “dump month” of cinema. Even worse, The Rhythm Section made history by having the worst wide opening weekend of all time and may cost Paramount Pictures up to $40 million.
Let's take a look at the underlying problems that led to The Rhythm Section’s downfall, including poor reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and an abysmal marketing campaign. Despite a widely praised performance by Blake Lively, The Rhythm Section sits at a measly 32 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. It also has a dismal C+ CinemaScore from audiences, which indicates that the film will have a major word-of-mouth problem. While distributor Paramount Pictures may have marketed The Rhythm Section as a female version of James Bond, critics noted that the film is actually a grim and depressing drama that lacks enough action beats for general audiences to enjoy.
Prior to The Rhythm Section, Blake Lively has proven herself as a bankable star. Both A Simple Favor and The Shallows were financially successful, and many critics claimed that Lively’s performance in the new action-drama was a career-best. Yet the decision to make Lively look less like her movie-star self in The Rhythm Section was a baffling choice that may have affected the movie’s failure at the box office. Paramount and the producers could have helped the situation by changing the movie’s title, which didn’t seem to relate to the main plot of the film at all. But the film’s biggest problem was its half-hearted ad campaign.
Paramount knew that it had a problem on its hands when its fall 2018 test screening for The Rhythm Section ended up becoming one of the worst-tested titles in the history of the studio. Eyebrows were raised further when Paramount didn’t include the movie in its CinemaCon reel, while it included fellow box office disappointments Gemini Man and Terminator: Dark Fate. According to entertainment social analytics corp RelishMix, The Rhythm Section’s marketing campaign prompted a largely negative discussion on social media, with the overall sentiment regarding the film was that it seemed like a forgettable entry in the “bad-ass chick” genre.
Industry insiders report that there was a conflict between Eon and Paramount regarding the overall tone of The Rhythm Section. The Eon producers pitched the film as a slow burn, noirish Euro thriller while Paramount thought that the movie would be a more action-packed affair. The script, written by Mark Burnell, always had problems and was viewed by industry insiders as unsalvageable. The release date for the film was pushed back a year after Blake Lively injured her knuckle during the film’s production in December 2017. And after hiring Emmy-winning indie filmmaker Reed Morano, Eon clashed with the director over the film.
Following Dolittle, The Rhythm Section is the latest box office disappointment of 2020. Releasing a film during Super Bowl weekend is often a risky proposition, as most audiences in the U.S. aren’t focused on cinema. It's clear that Paramount was dumping the failed project and trying to cut its losses, which is a major misfortune considering the film’s franchise potential.