This Newly-Announced Movie Makes Me Very Happy After Divisive $63 Million Bomb From 2 Years Ago

Summary Chazelle's upcoming film with Paramount is a chance for redemption after the flop of "Babylon."

Despite setbacks, Chazelle's artistic pedigree warrants another shot in the directing game.

"Babylon" failed due to budget, reception, and saturation in the industry, but Chazelle bounces back.

Among other big movie news released at 2024's CinemaCon, there was an announcement that Damien Chazelle of La La Land fame, is set to direct an untitled film for Paramount, which is particularly exciting after the director's huge box office bomb, 2022's Babylon. Though Chazelle has been directing movies since 2009, the director truly got his breakthrough in the mid-2010s when he directed iconic films such as Whiplash and La La Land. Unfortunately though, Chazelle stumbled with his most recent movie, Babylon, which grossed $63 million, a full ten thousand or more under the film's budget.

Damien Chazelle has directed five movies from 2009 to the present. His resume includes Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, Whiplash, La La Land, First Man, and Babylon. Of these movies, two have flopped, two have been immense successes, and the final film was fine. In this way, Damien Chazelle has put himself into an interesting position as a director. Although he is known for fantastic, best of the best movies, he has also failed as much as he has succeeded. And in this way, his most recent failure in Babylon could have been the end for him.

Related Damien Chazelle’s Next Movie Update Is Disappointing (Despite His Infamous $110 Million Box Office Bomb) While 2022's Babylon proved a flop upon release, the effect this may have on Damien Chazelle's career could be unfair given his artistic pedigree.

Damien Chazelle Thankfully Has A New Movie Lined Up After Babylon's Failure

Chazelle's untitled Paramount film could redeem him

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Luckily, Babylon's intense box office bomb did not take Damien Chazelle out of the game forever. On the contrary, this recent CinemaCon announcement is a relieving and exciting piece of news for the famed director.

As previously mentioned, Chazelle has signed on to direct a movie with Paramount Pictures, according to Deadline. Apparently, the film is one that he himself wrote, and it is allegedly set in a prison.

There are no more details than that. However, the news is huge for Chazelle and his fans. Despite Babylon's failings, Chazelle is going to persevere.

While one box office bomb shouldn't have the capability to take out a director for good, the context for Babylon is important. Upon its release in 2022, the film was so far from breaking even at the box office, as it wasn't even able to recoup its budget, coming thousands of dollars under that number. Furthermore, Babylon divided critics and audiences. With a 57% on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has been described as well-acted but overwhelmingly glitzy and chaotic. Overall, Babylon should have been a hit for Chazelle, which makes its stunning failure that much more impactful.

Babylon Deserved Better At The Box Office - Why It Bombed

Babylon's budget and reception killed it

The reasons why Babylon wasn't a smash hit are various. Babylon had quite a large budget for a film that was not connected to any franchise or IP. In this way, it was at risk for failure due to its standing alone, and ultimately, the worst did happen to it at the box office. On top of that, opinions on the film were so varying that audiences were likely on the fence about seeing it. Lastly, Hollywood movies are incredibly common nowadays, and therefore, audiences may have had enough of Babylon without even needing to see it.

Babylon's cast included Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, and Diego Calva.