A new spy movie starring Michael Fassbender and Pierce Brosnan has pulled off a box office feat. Fassbender is a versatile actor who is perhaps best known for playing the young Magneto in the X-Men prequel movies beginning with 2011’s First Class. However, in addition to starring in big-budget genre movies such as the superhero franchise, Assassin’s Creed, and Prometheus, he has starred in a variety of dramas such as Steve Jobs and 12 Years a Slave, both of which earned him Oscar nominations.
While Pierce Brosnan does not have any Oscar nominations under his belt, he does have ample experience in the spy genre, having starred in four James Bond movies between 1995 and 2002. He played the iconic superspy in GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, and Die Another Day, stepping into the role after the two-movie tenure of Timothy Dalton and before the Daniel Craig era, which spanned five movies. Brosnan has also starred in a variety of other notable movies, including Mamma Mia!, The Thomas Crown Affair, Black Adam, and Mrs. Doubtfire.
Black Bag Has Climbed An Important Chart
The Steven Soderbergh Spy Movie Had A Quiet Opening Weekend
Black Bag has leaped onto a major box office chart. The new spy movie, which was directed by Oscar-winner Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s 11, Erin Brockovich, Contagion, Magic Mike), follows British intelligence officer George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) attempting to discover a mole and suspecting that it might be his wife Kathryn (Cate Blanchett). The star-studded Black Bag cast also includes Naomie Harris, Regé-Jean Page, Marisa Abela, Tom Burke, and Pierce Brosnan. In spite of its star power, it premiered at No. 2 at the domestic box office with a $7.6 million debut that saw it fall behind fellow new release Novocaine.
Novocaine is an action-comedy about a man who can’t feel pain that stars Jack Quaid, Amber Midthunder, Jacob Batalon, and Ray Nicholson.
Per The Numbers, Black Bag has now grossed $14.6 million worldwide. This means that the movie has now outgrossed Steven Soderbergh’s 2018 thriller Unsane, which made $14.3 million worldwide, to become his 25th highest-grossing movie of all time, either as a director, producer, or executive producer. When counted solely among his directorial efforts, the new spy movie ranks even higher than the filmmaker’s Top 25 chart, landing at No. 17, just below 2002’s Solaris, which made $14.97 million worldwide.
What This Means For Black Bag
It Still Has A Long Way To Go
Although Black Bag may be performing comparatively well to other Steven Soderbergh movies, one hindrance to its overall commercial success is the fact that it is not performing at the level required by its mid-sized budget. The Michael Fassbender and Pierce Brosnan movie reportedly cost between $50 and $60 million, which likely means that its break-even point is somewhere around $125 million or more. Given the fact that it hasn’t even scratched the surface of $15 million toward the end of its first week in worldwide theaters, this milestone seems entirely out of its reach during its theatrical run.
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Source: The Numbers
Black Bag
8/10
- Release Date
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March 14, 2025
- Writers
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David Koepp