After just three weeks in theaters, The Accountant 2 has reached a major box office milestone. Ben Affleck returned to play the тιтular character, Christian Wolff, although that task took nearly nine years to happen. Christian is eventually brought back into action following the death of FinCEN director Raymond King (J.K. Simmons), leading to a new mission to track down mysterious ᴀssᴀssins. While The Accountant 2 received even better reviews than the original, it opened to $24 million during its debut weekend.
According to The Numbers, The Accountant 2 has just narrowly pᴀssed $90 million at the global box office. This comes as the movie just pᴀssed $59 million at the domestic box office and $31 million internationally. In addition, this milestone also moves the action sequel into Affleck’s all-time highest-grossing movie charts, now ranking at the no. 17 spot. The Accountant 2 just pᴀssed his 2023 movie sports biopic AIR and 2009’s State of Play.
Does This Mean That The Accountant 2 Is A Box Office Hit?
The Sequel Had A Reported $80 Million Budget
Even though $90 million doesn’t seem too bad, The Accountant 2 had an $80 million budget. This is nearly double the cost of the original movie, which had a $44 million budget and was able to make $155 million at the global box office. While the original movie was a box office hit, the sequel is still far away from reaching the expected numbers to become a success. The current box office only surpᴀsses the budget itself, while the break-even point is typically when a movie makes more than twice the budget. At this rate, it’s unlikely that The Accountant 2 will reach that point, especially as more new releases drop in theaters as the summer closes in.
While this may sound like a disappointment for the Affleck sequel, it’s also worth noting that determining a movie’s success has changed in light of streaming. While the first The Accountant movie was distributed by Warner Bros., the follow-up was covered by Amazon MGM Studios. Considering that Prime Video has released many streaming exclusive movies before and became a success through viewership, it’s still possible that The Accountant 2 may be deemed a hit, especially if it finds an audience at home. Currently, there has been no update on when the sequel will hit Prime Video.
Director Gavin O’Connor has revealed that he wants to do a trilogy, teasing that the third movie would be a road trip.
While multiple factors will determine whether The Accountant 2 is a success, it will certainly have an impact on the franchise’s future. Director Gavin O’Connor has revealed that he wants to do a trilogy, teasing that the third movie would be a road trip. Despite the lukewarm box office, however, it seems that The Accountant 3 is in development. While Amazon has not made any particular decision on this, the improved reception from the original and its streaming potential could be key to greenlighting the third installment.
Our Take On The Accountant 2’s Box Office Milestone
It Could Still Become A Streaming Hit
Image via Amazon MGM Studios
While this could be The Accountant 2‘s last stretch at the global box office, it has every chance of becoming a streaming hit. That’s what happened with the original movie, which became even bigger through streaming. Plus, the sequel doesn’t deserve to be deemed a failure, especially when it received positive reviews from critics and audiences. It even holds a 92% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. While it is disappointing that The Accountant 2 couldn’t excel at the same level as the original at the box office, streaming could be the way to find some success and keep the franchise alive.
Source: The Numbers
