An official poster for Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, which is set to release in IMAX on January 3rd. Photo Credit: CT & Co
Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown pulled in another $11.6 million at the box office over the weekend, thereby upping its domestic gross past $23 million, according to early sales data.
That sales data comes from Box Office Mojo, which specifically pointed to $23.17 million in gross U.S. tickets moved as of yesterday. Running 141 minutes, A Complete Unknown released on Christmas Day and is teed up for a January 3rd IMAX premiere.
With all things considered, and against the backdrop of an ongoing box-office recovery, the commercial showing appears solid enough for the Searchlight film. Moreover, the relatively strong viewership will presumably drive results in other areas.
Most immediately, these potential results refer to bolstered streaming listenership and physical sales.
Beginning with the latter, though Bob Dylan only offered public support for the biopic towards the top of December, September brought the release of a 27-CD set from the 83-year-old. Apparently designed with superfans in mind, the massive collection encompasses north of 400 tracks.
Then there’s the potential to reach new fans via A Complete Unknown. It stands to reason that the release, in part because it stars Timothée Chalamet (age 29) and features talent including Elle Fanning (age 26), may attract new fans yet for the 10-time Grammy winner.
Time will reveal the revenue impact of any fresh following, but Fleetwood Mac and several others have reaped career benefits in recent years after catching on with younger supporters.
(Regarding the royalties behind the possible listenership boost, Dylan sold his recordings to Sony Music at 2022’s start, after closing 2020 by cashing in on his compositional holdings under a Universal Music Publishing Group deal.)
Meanwhile, Dylan in his aforementioned social media message plugging A Complete Unknown encouraged fans to read the book upon which the movie is based, Elijah Wald’s Dylan Goes Electric!
At the time of this writing, the 2015 book was the bestseller in Amazon’s Rock Music and Folk & Traditional Music categories. (Suze Rotolo’s A Freewheelin’ Time was occupying the number-two spot in Folk.)
Bigger picture, with a streaming windfall presumably in the longer-term cards for A Complete Unknown as well, additional major-motion-picture biopics about legacy acts could be forthcoming.
However, while it perhaps goes without saying, not every story is ideal for the biopic treatment; straight documentaries are continuing to roll out in the music world.
To name one example, Disney+ released The Beach Boys this past May, after Irving Azoff (who produced the film) bought the appropriate catalog via his Iconic Artists Group in February 2021.
The same service added Martin Scorsese-produced Beatles ’64 one month ago, and Led Zeppelin’s first officially authorized documentary is slated to hit theaters in February.