<\/p>\n
Daniel Day-Lewis is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. From “The Crucible” to “There Will Be Blood” and everything in between<\/a>, he’s been a key part of some incredible movies over the years. That’s why it felt like a big deal when it was revealed that the actor was coming out of retirement for “Anemone,” the feature directorial debut of his son, Ronan Day-Lewis. Unfortunately, that grand return was met with a very muted debut at the box office.<\/p>\n Released this past weekend by Focus Features, “Anemone” made just $681,655 on 865 screens for a terrible $788 per-screen average in its domestic debut. It failed \u2014 by a considerable margin\u00a0\u2014 to crack the top 10. Even the re-release of “Casper” ($802,365) performed better, for some sobering context. Granted, this movie was never going to be a blockbuster, but the return of a three-time Oscar winner, one would think\/hope would be a bigger deal, even for the arthouse audience. Alas, that’s not the way things shook out.<\/p>\n The film centers on Jem Stoker (Sean Bean), who visits his estranged hermit brother, Ray (Day-Lewis), attempting to convince him to come home. In his review for \/Film, Jeremy Mathai said “Anemone”<\/a> is a “moody chamber piece” with “an acting showcase for the ages” from Day-Lewis. Even so, that great performance wasn’t enough to elevate the total of the movie’s parts.<\/p>\n “Anemone” currently holds a 57% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes to go with a 57% audience rating. It feels, at times, nearly impossible to get people out to theaters to see anything original these days. On the rare occasion when something does break through, it’s generally because the response is overwhelmingly positive. That wasn’t the case here.<\/p>\n