9 Recent Movies Sent Out To Die

Sometimes, a movie is released with little to no promotion or backing from the studio because it knows it will bomb, but that wasn't entirely the case with 2020's Capone. The movie stars Tom Hardy in the titular role, and while it didn't perform well with critics, it didn't have much of a chance to wow audiences.

This wasn't necessarily the fault of the studio, which planned to release Capone theatrically, and it did, but only in Lithuania, Iceland, and Portugal. Capone became a victim of 2020's cinema shutdown when it was released during the height of uncertainty in May.

Its primary release came via Vertical Entertainment's digital distribution, which only earned it a couple million off its $20 million budget. Capone's release is a great example of a studio sending a movie out to die, as it could have simply sat on it until a better release came along.

That's what most studios have done this year, but not in the case of Capone. Since it was released in May (and bombed), it worked well enough as a test case of what not to do vis-à-vis releasing a movie during a worldwide lockdown.