Why Argylle Just Flopped

Why Matthew Vaughn's latest crashed and burned at the box office.

By Jack Pooley /

Universal Pictures

2024 at the movies hasn't exactly been off to a stellar start, with only Jason Statham's The Beekeeper and the Mean Girls musical managing to become breakout successes so far.

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Yet there was hope that the recent commercial dry spell might be broken by Argylle, the new spy-actioner from the twisted mind of Kingsman director Matthew Vaughn.

But the pricey, star-studded blockbuster ended up flopping in its opening weekend, grossing just $18 million domestically, in turn ensuring it hasn't got a hope in heck of turning a profit when it's all said and done.

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So, what went wrong? As the smoke clears, Apple and Universal will certainly be trying to figure that one out, though if you ask even casual observers, the writing was very much on the wall for months that Argylle was going to tank commercially.

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With that in mind, this post-mortem will comprehensively detail everything that went wrong with the movie's release, and what Hollywood desperately needs to avoid with its big upcoming tentpoles...