The automotive media — especially this site — has done all we can to get people to see Ron Howard's Formula One drama RUSH. Why? Ron Howard has done more than make an F1 film, he's made an F1 film worth watching. Now you have to get everyone you know to go see it or else we're probably going to have to wait another decade for more good car films.
Despite getting the Jalopnik Film Festival bump, RUSH had a relatively mediocre launch this weekend as everyone went to see a sequel about Italian chef/meteorologists and Howard's flick did only $10.3 million.
That's not terrible but that's not great. Here's what EW had to say:
That said, Ron Howard’s Formula One racing drama Rush raced off with a rather lackluster $10.3 million in its expansion from five theaters into 2,297 locations. The Universal-distributed film, which stars Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl, marks a major decrease from Howard’s last sports drama, Cinderella Man, which punched up $18.3 million in its 2005 debut. For Hemsworth, Rush (obviously) started off slower than both Thor and The Avengers, but it also under-performed compared to his non-superhero vehicles The Cabin in the Woods ($14.7 million) and Red Dawn ($14.3 million). The film will need great word of mouth to drive it to profitability, and given its strong “A-” CinemaScore, it may achieve that. Also working in Rush‘s favor? Its relatively low $38 million budget.
See, it's a good film. People like it. It wasn't that expensive to make. All it needs is a little push and, hopefully, an expansion to more theaters (the two films that did better were in 4,001 and 3,290 theaters).
If RUSH can have a decent run in the U.S. it'll be good for Formula One on this continent as it does a nice job explaining why F1 can be exciting. It might also make a business case for car films that aren't terrible.
As much as I enjoy a Fast And Furious movie, I'd rather see more RUSH-like films than Getaways or Need For Speeds.
RUSH, no matter how much you may love Vin Diesel, is better than those films. The directing gives you a reason to care about F1, the writing nicely follows the Senna playbook of focusing on two drivers, and Daniel Brühl gives one of the best performances I've seen this year.
It's important to support a car film that isn't just explosions, sex, and car pom (although this film has plenty of it), so if you saw the movie and loved it, go tell people. If you haven't seen it, skip work and take your friends.
(Full Disclosure: I've seen a few RUSH ads on this site, but I'm not sure if they're just Google ads or from Microsoft or someone else. I don't care. You should go see the movie.)
Tell Everyone You Know To Go See RUSH… Or Else