Andy Serkis' New Movie Based On A Classic Book Flopped At The Box Office
by Ryan Scott · /FilmAndy Serkis is a beloved performer, known for his work as Gollum in "The Lord of the Rings" and Caesar in the "Planet of the Apes" movies, among many other roles. As a director? It's a little more complicated. Sad to say, as beloved as Serkis is, his latest movie, an animated adaptation of "Animal Farm," died a tragic death at the box office on its opening weekend.
A passion project that has been in the works since the early 2010s, "Animal Farm" hit theaters this past weekend, taking in just $3.3 million domestically, landing at number six on the charts. It was no match for "The Devil Wears Prada 2" ($77 million), the weekend's number one movie by a mile. It was also no match for "Michael," which continued to rule the box office in weekend two with another $54.4 million. Heck, the animated flick wasn't even a match for "Hokum" ($6.4 million), the new low-budget horror movie from NEON and director Damian McCarthy
"Animal Farm" is based on the classic George Orwell book of the same name. It takes place on a farm as the pigs consolidate control and crush dissent, descending into a ruthless dictatorship. It boasts a star-studded voice cast that includes Seth Rogen ("The Studio"), Gaten Matarazzo ("Stranger Things"), Steve Buscemi ("Fargo"), and Glenn Close ("Wake Up Dead Man"), among many others.
Multiple Oscar-winners couldn't save this one, though. The movie carries a $35 million production budget. Though that's in the lower-mid-budget realm, an opening of this size means it's going to go down as a big swing and a miss for Angel Studios, the company behind 2023's surprise, controversial hit "Sound of Freedom," as well as other faith-based fare.
Animal Farm was a passion project 15 years in the making
"Animal Farm" carries a terrible 24% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes to go with a dismal C- CinemaScore. Word of mouth will be bad to nonexistent. Especially with crowd-pleasers like "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" still doing solid business, offering up a better option for families at the moment.
This was a passion project 15 years in the making for Serkis, who first became attached to the project back in 2011. It was originally supposed to shoot in 2014, but the date kept getting pushed down the road. Netflix bought Serkis' motion-capture "Animal Farm" adaptation in 2018, but eventually let the project go. Aniventure and Cinesite backed the production, with Angel Studios picking up the rights back in December 2025.
All of those years of work fell flat. What went wrong? For one, George Orwell's story is very, very bleak. It's possible that families went in expecting a cute movie for kids and got something more than they bargained for. It also clearly didn't rally critics either, which didn't help. Either way, it's a major misfire despite Serkis' efforts to get it across the finish line after so many years.
Serkis has had his fair share of misfortune as a director. He didn't know Disney was making a new "Jungle Book" when he began making "Mowgli." Disney's was a massive hit, his kind of just came and went. "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" was a commercial success but a critical misfire. He just can't seem to get all of the pieces to line up in the right place when he takes on a feature as a director. Here's hoping the stars finally align on "The Hunt for Gollum."
"Animal Farm" is in theaters now.