A 100-Year-Old Classic Officially Outperforms Zachary Levi’s New Western
Zachary Levi’s Western remake *Angel and the Badman* performed poorly in its opening weekend, earning about $2 million and placing tenth in the domestic box-office chart. Its weak results matter for Angel Studios, which is trying to expand from faith-based films into mainstream genre releases.
The film opened in more than 2,200 theatres and averaged $413 per theatre on Friday, $297 on Saturday and $225 on Sunday. It also received a 23% Rotten Tomatoes score. In its sixth weekend of re-release, F.W. Murnau’s 1926 classic *Faust* averaged $524 per theatre, despite having been in cinemas for more than six weeks.
- *Angel and the Badman* earned about $2 million on opening weekend.
- It averaged less per theatre than the 1926 film *Faust*.
- Angel Studios is seeking a wider mainstream audience.
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Angel Studios is best known for films aimed at faith-based audiences, and it has been seeking a wider audience with releases in other genres. A Western remake is one test of whether the studio can attract mainstream filmgoers.
The new film reworks Angel and the Badman, a 1947 Western about an outlaw whose life changes after he is taken in by a Quaker family. Zachary Levi stars in the remake; the original is part of a long tradition of Westerns built around conflict between violence and a quieter way of life.
F.W. Murnau’s Faust is a German silent film from 1926, based on the story of a man who makes a pact with the devil. Its continuing cinema screenings show how older films can still find audiences, while the two films’ box-office figures offer a comparison between a new release and a classic.