At the Cannes Film Festival premiere of “Highest 2 Lowest” in May, all eyes were on the crime drama’s fourth lead: A$AP Rocky. The “Everyday” rapper’s very presence at the Palais sent photographers into a frenzy before he and partner Rihanna were whisked away to the film’s exclusive beach party, followed by an early-morning yacht bash sponsored by Ray-Ban. Despite all the fanfare and a riveting performance in which Rocky held his own opposite two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington, “Highest 2 Lowest” barely made a whimper at the box office when it arrived in roughly 300 theaters on Aug. 15. In fact, the final numbers were likely so weak that A24 and Apple Studios took the unorthodox step of not releasing box office numbers at all.
Rocky is certainly not alone. A stream of chart toppers with massive social media followings have made bold forays into the movie business only to be ignored by theatergoers, from Taylor Swift (“Cats,” which bombed and swept the 2020 Razzies) to Harry Styles (whose “My Policeman” received a limited global release in 2022, making not enough money in U.K. theaters to even register a tally before Amazon Studios dumped it on its streaming platform).
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The phenomenon of the music star fizzle dates back decades, having dinged the big-screen aspirations of everyone from Mariah Carey (“Glitter”) to Britney Spears (“Crossroads”) to even Rihanna (remember “Battleship”?). But this past year saw a pair of spectacular misfires. The Weeknd’s “Hurry Up Tomorrow” flamed out with $5.2 million domestically despite a wide release in more than 2,000 theaters and major TV star Jenna Ortega as co-lead. And Lady Gaga’s “Joker: Folie à Deux” became the talk of the town for all the wrong reasons, earning $208 million against a $200 million budget. All this begs the question: Why is it so hard for music industry A-listers to make the pivot to movie stardom?
“Fame isn’t really transferable currency across mediums. A music star can bring awareness but not loyalty. Fans escape through that persona, not watching them act like someone else,” says box office analyst Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations. “Remember how desperately Madonna wanted to become a major movie star? Never really happened. A musician would almost have to fully reinvent themselves to make that transition. ”
Perhaps A24 and Apple Studios’ move to forgo box office results on “Highest 2 Lowest,” directed by Oscar winner Spike Lee, should be considered a red flag. The distributor and the tech giant also kept the grosses for 2021’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth” opaque, opting for a flimsy statement that the film had “multiple sellouts across all 12 opening markets.” (At least it had the excuse of being a COVID-era release.) Neither released the budget on “Highest 2 Lowest.”
“A24 is very consistent in terms of reporting numbers,” says Shawn Robbins, director of movie analytics at Fandango. “It’s unheard of for a well-known studio like that to be keeping mum about box office receipts.”
Transparency aside, the task of plugging a high-profile recording artist — or two in the case of “Highest 2 Lowest,” which also features Ice Spice in a smaller role — into a film isn’t always misguided. After all, director Bradley Cooper cast Gaga in 2018’s “A Star Is Born,” a vehicle perfectly suited for her talent and persona. That film, with a relatively minuscule $36 million budget, earned Gaga a best actress mention and nabbed $440 million worldwide. Ditto Jon Chu, whose “Wicked” star Ariana Grande landed a supporting actress Oscar nomination, while the film’s global haul topped $700 million. Ice Cube, who began his career as a member of gangsta rap group N.W.A, is among the small clutch of successful recording artists who morphed into topline actors, scoring such hits as the “Barbershop” and “Ride Along” franchises. (His breakout came via David O. Russell’s Iraq war caper “Three Kings.”)
“Crossover for a very popular artist can be very difficult,” Robbins says. “Playing against type can work really well, and lightning is captured in a bottle like Justin Timberlake in ‘The Social Network.’ He certainly wasn’t the highlight of the film. So many other elements are driving that film’s success. Sometimes it requires the artist being not necessarily the face of the film.”
Producers say it’s tricky to pinpoint why some recording luminaries translate on the big screen while other don’t. Sticking exclusively to musicals isn’t foolproof, or “Joker 2” or “Cats” might have worked. By contrast, Styles made a savvy move by taking a supporting role in Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk.” But that strategy didn’t work for Swift when she appeared in a smaller part in Russell’s “Amsterdam.” Unlike “Three Kings,” the movie didn’t catch on or corral the Swifties, taking home a paltry $31 million off an $80 million budget. Gaga’s excursion into song-less drama in Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci” didn’t inspire theatergoers or critics, who mocked her Italian accent. And though Selena Gomez can claim one of the largest fandoms in the world — with 417 million Instagram followers — her base stayed home when the 2019 zombie comedy “The Dead Don’t Die” arrived at the multiplex.
Auteurs like Paul Thomas Anderson have gambled on centering a film on a singer, as he did with 2021’s “Licorice Pizza,” which starred Haim vocalist Alana Haim. While critics and Oscar voters embraced the comedy-drama, it was a money loser for United Artists Releasing, pulling in less than the $40 million budget during the theatrical run. Others who have no trouble filling stadiums, like Travis Scott, have had to settle for box office obscurity. In 2023, A24 took the Scott-led “Aggro Dr1ft” to Venice, but the Harmony Korine-helmed film ultimately earned an embarrassing $201,351 worldwide.
Still, it’s a head-scratcher that A24, which is adept at platform releases, would decline to report receipts on “Highest 2 Lowest.” The distributor typically reports grosses even when a movie only unspools in a handful of theaters.
Says Bock: “Movies are their own sacred ritual and thus have different fan behavior. Music fans want to see their favorite artists in person at a concert, not on a screen.”
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