Low budget couldn’t save it — Andrew Garfield’s Robin Hood movie tanks at the box office
Andrew Garfield’s latest historical drama has stumbled at the North American box office — and even a costly Robin Hood pivot couldn’t rescue its opening weekend.
Well, here we go again: Andrew Garfield puts on the historical boots for The Uprising, but this one's definitely not riding off into the sunset after opening weekend. If you thought slapping Robin Hood branding on a project guarantees full cinemas, the numbers beg to differ.
The Uprising clawed back only $3.25 million from over 2,000 North American cinemas.
Poor Robin's New Origin Story
Despite what the marketing makes you believe, at its core, The Uprising is about the 1381 Peasants' Revolt. But just before the release, Focus Features decided the film needed something extra—so out came the rebranding, with trailers and posters suddenly plugging 'The Rise of Robin Hood' angle. Presumably this was meant to catch the eye of anyone still nostalgic for doublets and archery, or those who just want to see Garfield in something not involving Lycra. Unfortunately, public curiosity doesn’t always turn into ticket sales; the familiar outlaw name wasn’t enough to bring punters in.
For context, Focus Features paid $11 million for the rights to distribute in the US alone, with a chunk more thrown into marketing and general release costs. The actual production bill for the film? $20 million. Even with Garfield’s name—Oscar-nominated, Spider-Man veteran, all-round recognisable face—the outcome felt underwhelming. According to CinemaScore, audiences rated the film B-. Not dreadful, but also not the kind of buzz that brings in second-weekend crowds through word of mouth. When all's tallied, Focus could be counting their losses rather than their coins.
Robin Hood Is Not Having a Moment
Maybe it’s not just this film. Looking back, Robin Hood’s recent cinematic outings have been mostly limp, verging on cursed. A24’s own attempt, The Death of Robin Hood, barely limped to $9.5 million globally on the same $20 million budget, with barely over $5 million of that coming from US cinemas. Taron Egerton’s 2018 turn had a much higher price tag—$100 million spent, only $86.5 million made back.
- Ridley Scott’s 2010 'Robin Hood' did rake in $321.7 million worldwide, but with a terrifying $237 million cost, even that still didn’t make anyone rich.
- Head back to 1991 and it’s a different story—Kevin Costner’s 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves' made a massive $390.5 million on a budget of $60 million. Those days, clearly, are well behind us.