Matt Damon's 5-Movie Hot Streak Fixes The Damage From His $55 Million Box Office Flop 6 Years Ago

Matt Damon has many box office triumphs to his name, but following one disastrous outing for his 2017 film, the actor has recovered quite nicely.

Summary

• Despite the failure of "Downsizing," Matt Damon bounced back with five critically acclaimed films, including "Ford v Ferrari" and "Oppenheimer."
• "Downsizing" received negative reviews due to its subpar execution of an intriguing concept.
• The film's box office failure can be attributed to its focus on real-world dangers that may not appeal to all audiences.

Matt Damon has undoubtedly had a successful acting career, with numerous box office hits and prestigious awards to his name, but he has also appeared in a handful of movies that are considered failures, like Downsizing. The 2017 science fiction comedy-drama film starred Damon as Paul Safranek, a man who agrees to participate in an experimental downsizing program. To combat global warming, overpopulation, and other factors that threaten the human race, scientists come up with the idea of downsizing, which entails shrinking humans to live in smaller, less wasteful communities. Unfortunately, the premise wasn't enough to draw people to the theaters, and the movie was a box office bomb.

Given that Damon is considered one of the most bankable actors in Hollywood, Downsizing's failure (in regard to how much money it made and its overwhelming amount of negative reviews) was shocking. Since his name was attached to the project, one would think it would at least earn its budget back at the box office. Instead, the studio lost money — Downsizing earned only $55 million and had a budget of $65–70 million. But not all was lost for Damon since, following the release of the 2017 film, he went on to star in five movies that were critical successes.

Matt Damon Has Only Starred In Critically Acclaimed Movies Since 2017's Downsizing

Even though Downsizing bombed at the box office, Matt Damon did not let that faze him. The actor's next five films (where he had a starring role and was not just credited as a cameo) — Ford v Ferrari, Stillwater, The Last Duel, Air, and Oppenheimer — were all critically acclaimed, and many of them performed well during their theatrical runs. Damon played Carroll Shelby, a race car driver, in the 2019 movie Ford v Ferrari, which earned $225.5 million against a $97.6 million budget. The biographical sports film also received a plethora of positive reviews and was nominated in four categories at the 92nd Academy Awards.

Stillwater and The Last Duel, both of which were released in 2021 while the COVID-19 pandemic still affected movie theaters everywhere, did not break the bank at the box office. However, they were critically acclaimed. Air also received positive reviews from critics in 2023, and it made $90 million at the box office against a $70-90 million budget. But Damon's most recent project is undoubtedly his most successful. The actor starred as Leslie Groves in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, a critical and financial success. The 2023 epic biographical film earned $946.9 million against a $100 budget, making it the third-highest-grossing movie of 2023 (so far).

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Why Downsizing Has Such Bad Reviews (& Bombed At The Box Office)

Although Matt Damon's 2017 film had a unique premise, Downsizing's reviews were atrocious. The concept of a downsized community of humans to stop global warming and overpopulation was intriguing, to say the least. But as critics pointed out, the movie's execution of the fascinating idea was subpar, leading to the audience's disappointment. As for why Downsizing was a box office bomb, that could likely be attributed to the fact that not everyone is drawn to watch a movie about all the (very real) dangers that the human race faces.