Things are not looking good for Zachary Levi who has been coming up with one flop after the other. There is no doubt that the man is talented when it comes to his work – after all, he has brought characters like Shazam and Flynn Rider to life! However, lately, it seems like his portfolio is riddled with projects that underperform at the box office and now, he is adding The Unbreakable Boy to this list.
Released on the 21st of February, The Unbreakable Boy is an adaptation of the book, The Unbreakable Boy: A Father’s Fear, a Son’s Courage, and a Story of Unconditional Love, written by Scott Michael LeRette and Susy Flory. While the film promised a heartfelt depiction of a father-son relationship, the numbers don’t look like much.
Zachary Levi breaks a career record and not in a good way
Last year, Zachary Levi came out with Harold and the Purple Crayon, which made $32 million in its theatrical run and had an opening weekend worth $6 million (via Box Office Mojo). Before that, he reprised his role as Shazam in Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023) which made $134 million and opened to $30 million (via BOM). All in all, not a good last few years for Levi.
Now, it looks like his newest flick is going to make even less than these films at the box office. In fact, it is probably going to end up being the lowest of Levi’s career.
As per Variety, The Unbreakable Boy has opened outside of the top five and the film is looking at a $2.4 million weekend across 1,687 venues. This marks the lowest Levi’s films have ever opened to.
The Unbreakable Boy is a story about a young boy, Austin LeRette, on the autism spectrum with brittle bone disease. Levi plays the role of his father, Scott who never loses faith in his son and together they become unbreakable, even if life tests them in its own way.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently stands at a 47% score on the Tomatometer whereas the audience score lies at 96% at the moment.
Zachary Levi on why The Unbreakable Boy is an important film
Levi has always been vocal about the importance of faith in one’s life and he truly believes that movies like The Unbreakable Boy show us why. In a conversation with The Deseret News before the film’s release, Levi talked about his love of telling true stories that revolve around human journey, redemption, and the “evolution of our souls.”
As far as he is concerned, his newest film is exactly that. In his words,
I love telling true stories, but particularly true stories that involve real human journey, journey into the depths, journey into the darkness, journey into the pain, but as a vehicle to show redemption, to show evolution of our souls, and I think that (‘The Unbreakable Boy’) is just chock full of that.
As mentioned above, the film is an adaptation of Scott LeRette and Susy Flory’s book, an autobiography showcasing the struggles of a first-time father navigating parenting his special-needs son.
During the interview, Levi also added that the world needs “more hope” along with a chance at redemption and unity. He stated that while a film can do its best to be entertaining, it will still be a missed opportunity if it doesn’t have some sort of a message or lesson in the end that helps us become better people.
He said,
I think we all need more hope, we all need more redemption, we all need more unity. I think that on a spiritual level, a lot of films, though they may be very entertaining, if they’re not coming with a message that is ultimately helping us to grow, helping us to become better versions of ourselves — I think we’re missing an opportunity.
As for The Unbreakable Boy, Levi says it is a “true story about a family navigating the waters of autism” and is a “real, grounded, slice of life. Despite the fact that Levi has spoken so highly of the film, it looks like the audience isn’t interested in driving to the theaters for it!
The Unbreakable Boy is currently playing in theaters.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
