Producing a spiritual sequel to a movie that holds respective 98 and 92 percent scores from critics and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, recouped its budget almost five times over at the box office, and won two Academy Awards from six nominations seems like a no-brainer, but The Son suffered from all the sins The Father didn’t commit.
Both films are adaptations of Florian Zellner’s stage plays of the same name, which he co-wrote and directed himself. Anthony Hopkins also features in both – albeit as different characters – but The Father ended up proving massively controversial for reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with anything that happened onscreen.
The legend of stage and screen didn’t even bother to wait up for the 93rd Academy Awards because everyone was so sure Chadwick Boseman would take home a posthumous Best Actor trophy that the category was even positioned last on the broadcast. Hopkins ended up winning, the internet exploded in rage, and he eventually recorded a video acceptance speech.
Not that The Son had to worry about such things when it ended up being panned into the ground, topping out at just 29 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and bringing in a measly $3.6 million from theaters, although Hugh Jackman did land a Golden Globe nod for his strong central performance. Not that anyone seems to mind it being such an inferior follow-up, though, seeing as the overwrought melodrama has rocketed 78 places on streaming overnight.
Per FlixPatrol, The Son has risen from obscurity to become the fourth most-watched title on Prime Video on a global scale, a far cry from the lowly 82nd position it occupied 24 hours ago, which isn’t a bad return for something so disappointing.
Published: May 12, 2023 11:19 am