Springsteen Biopic Seriously Underwhelms With $9 Million First-Week Domestic Tally, $16.1 Million Worldwide

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere had an underwhelming debut weekend, bringing in only $16.1 million globally.

Music biopics are a mixed bag. Everyone hopes their film will be a smashing success, like the former 21st Century Fox’s Bohemian Rhapsody a few years ago. But Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, the music biopic starring Jeremy Allen White as the Boss, debuted well below projections with an underwhelming first-week global total of $16.1 million.

The film came in at #4 in its debut weekend, raking in $9.1 million at the domestic box office and only $7 million internationally, bringing its global total to a demure $16.1 million.

One issue might be Springsteen’s subject matter. Rather than focusing on the Boss’ hit-laden, stadium-packing era, the film is based on Warren Zanes’ book of the same name. It follows an isolated Springsteen (played by White) as he deals with depression, generational trauma, and his personal and musical identity. This is the backdrop for his time spent crafting his 1982 album, Nebraska.

Writer and director Scott Cooper said his vision for the film was about depicting the “intimacy” found in Zanes’ book, which detailed Springsteen’s journey channeling his trauma into his craft.

“It wasn’t about Bruce Springsteen, the icon and stadium-filling star,” said Cooper, adding that the book “captured the tension,” between myth and man. “That’s where the film lived for me. Not in the spectacle, but in the silence, the hesitation, the uncertainty. I saw a cinematic portrait of an artist who was willing to strip himself bare.”

But the film still has time to grow into its potential. Viewers have given it a B+ on CinemaScore, while Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 60% rating. Springsteen had a budget of $55 million and is showing in nearly 3,500 locations—plenty of wiggle room to rake in more dough throughout the remainder of the year.