“Amsterdam” with Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Anya Taylor-Joy and “Avatar 2” star Zoe Saldaña, among others, was only released in cinemas on 4 November 2022. Two months later, you can already stream it.
It’s probably not too much of an exaggeration to call “Amsterdam” one of Hollywood’s biggest and most prominently cast cinema flops in recent memory: The comedy, which is loaded with star power right down to the supporting roles, cost a whopping 80 million dollars to produce alone, which is probably due in large part to various megastars. Probably due in no small part to the mixed reviews, the film, which opened on 4 November, has so far grossed only 31.2 million dollars – a complete economic catastrophe that should ultimately bring the Disney-owned production company 20th Century Studios a hefty loss. Since marketing expenses were also incurred in addition to production costs, analysts expect a loss of almost 100 million dollars from “Amsterdam”.
While “Black Panther” or “Black Adam”, which were launched in the same period, can still be found in the programme of numerous cinema chains, “Amsterdam” has already largely disappeared by then. But now there is another way the film could get some more attention after all. Because “Amsterdam” will land on Disney+ on 4 January 2023 and thus only two months after its cinema release!
After the animated fantasy adventure “Strange World”, which was released in cinemas on 24 November and even landed on the mouse company’s streaming platform before Christmas, “Amsterdam” is the second box office flop in a row that Disney is rushing from the cinema to home cinema.
Unfortunately, unlike “Strange World”, which our critic Björn Becher in our 3.5-star review even sees as having some potential to compete with “Avatar” and Pandora, we can’t give a recommendation for the latest superstar vehicle from five-time Oscar nominee David O. Russell (“Silver Linings”, “American Hustle”)…
“AMSTERDAM”: MANY STARS, LITTLE FUN
Soldiers Burt (Christian Bale) and Harold (John David Washington) and nurse Valerie (Margot Robbie) meet in the course of the First World War. They quickly become best friends. Years later, they end up in the middle of a criminal case.
Burt and Harold become prime suspects in a murder they witnessed. So they are not only hunted by the authorities, but also by the real murderers who want to eliminate the accomplices. What they don’t realise yet, however, is that they are on the trail of a massive conspiracy…
“Lots of stars, not much fun”, FILMSTARTS editor Björn Becher outlines the film in our official review of “Amsterdam”, which gives “one of the biggest cinema disappointments of the year [2022]” only a meagre 1.5 out of 5 possible stars.
In addition to Bale, Washington and Robbie, you can expect Andrea Riseborough, Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Rock, Matthias Schoenarts, Michael Shannon, Mike Myers, Taylor Swift, Rami Malek, Timothy Olyphant, Robert De Niro and Zoe Saldaña, who can currently also be seen in “Avatar 2: The Way Of Water”. But even this almost unbelievable star ensemble cannot change the fact that the 134-minute long “Amsterdam” only burns itself into the memory with its strong costumes and sets.
