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‘Lisa Frankenstein’ Dead and Buried at Box Office

Once-mighty Diablo Cody stumbles in retro comedy comeback vehicle

Diablo Cody owned Hollywood for a New York Minute.

The stripper-turned-screenwriter had a wild personal story and a killer hit with 2007’s “Juno.” The pro-life movie earned four Oscar nominations, including Best Original Screenplay. Cody won the statuette for her screenwriting debut, and her career exploded.

It’s been a slow, but steady downhill slide ever since.

Quality films like “Young Adult” ($16 million) and “Tully” ($9 million) got little traction at the box office. Her horror/comedy hybrid “Jennifer’s Body” ($16 million) also landed with a thud despite sizable hype.

Other Cody-led projects never left the starting gate.

Now, she’s the name behind what will likely be one of 2024’s biggest flops.

LISA FRANKENSTEIN - Official Trailer [HD] - Only In Theaters February 9

“Lisa Frankenstein” is set to earn roughly $4 million in its opening box office weekend, a terrible haul, period, but even worse given the lack of competition. Cody’s screenplay, directed by Zelda Williams (“House of D”), is a “coming of rage” story of a young woman (Kathryn Newton) who develops a crush on a reanimated corpse (Cole Sprouse).

Yes, it’s a pitch-black comedy set in the 1980s for nostalgia’s sake, but critics weren’t impressed – 50 percent “rotten” at Rotten Tomatoes.

A single-joke skit that’s too self-aware to be distinctively funny, freaky or thrilling. – The New York Post

The film opened on 3,143 screens but will struggle to pass the $5 million mark despite no major releases soaking up audiences’ attention.

(Note: Focus Features didn’t schedule any Denver-based critic screenings and wouldn’t provide this reviewer with a screening link when asked.)

FAST FACT: Cody later said she regretted writing “Juno” since many embraced it as a pro-life feature. “I took Roe [v. Wade] for granted, and many of us did. I was just creating; I never intended the movie as any kind of political statement at all. I can’t imagine being that innocent again.”

The box office in general continues to struggle in the wake of last year’s dueling strikes. The weekend’s big “winner,” “Argylle,” earned just $6 million. Warner Bros. scored the no. 9 movie with a re-release of 2021’s “Dune” ($1.5 million) to prep audiences for the sequel’s March 1 release.

Only word of mouth can salvage “Lisa Frankenstein” now, and next week offers more serious competition. The Valentine’s Day weekend will see two major releases – “Madame Web” and “Bob Marley: One Love.”

Those titles also may struggle theatrically.

Box Office Pro predicts “Bob Marley: One Love” will snag $11 – 16 million in its opening frame. “Madame Web,” the latest entry in the cooling superhero genre, is on target to earn $25-35 million, far below the most recent super-flop “The Marvels” ($46 million).

We’re a long way from the “Barbenheimer” days of summer.

6 Comments

  1. Based on their last four theatrical releases, Disney’s lost over $1 billion dollars. The gay flags confirm that the lunatics are in charge of the asylum. Disney management has lost control of this company. Still there….
    Latoya Raveneau “adding queerness” to children’s programming.
    Karey Burke says, “many, many, many LGBTQIA characters in our stories”
    Kathleen Kennedy making Woke feminist, black and gay films had 13 films bombed.,
    NO ONE WAS FIRED, NO ONE HELD ACCOUNTABLE. They are still going to make social extremist content that attacks the values of middle America.

    Boxoffice bombs one after another costing $100’s of Millions of Dollars. Disney will make excuses for the succession of box office flops, but remember;
    Barbie $1,441,659,588
    Super Mario $1,362,015,510
    Oppenheimer $948,986,785

    1. The only thing that will save them is when their stock drops so low, Musk can run in a buy them!

      He is currently backing Carano’s suit against them and anyone who can claim they’ve been harmed by their DEI policies.

  2. Cinema will not hold the prominence it once held, the industry is not about making movies but “content.”
    The golden age of Cinema is over. No more interesting stories, no more crafted dialogue, no more proper diction, Quotas for blacks to check the Woke box, no more westerns with white men. Rio Bravo (1959), Gone with the Wind (1939), The Alamo (1960)

  3. “Cody later said she regretted writing “Juno” since many embraced it as a pro-life feature. ”

    “Oh, no…the wrong people liked my movie for the wrong reasons…I shall never make that mistake again”

    And that was the last good movie she made.

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