Paul Thomas Anderson's political thriller One Battle After Another, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, has been critically acclaimed and hailed as a "masterpiece", but won't break even at the box office.

Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another is one of the most acclaimed films of the year, with countless rave reviews hailing it as a masterpiece. What's more, these reviews agree that it isn't one of those eat-your-vegetables masterpieces that are a slog to get through, but which give you a nice, warm, virtuous feeling when they're finished. The critical consensus is that the film is an action-packed, wildly entertaining night at the cinema. "It's impossible to overstate how much fun this thing is," says Max Weiss in Baltimore Magazine. "It's a terrific ride," concludes Nick Bradshaw in Sight & Sound. And the BBC's Caryn James praises a car chase "that makes you feel as if you're on a rollercoaster". Throw in the star power of the film's lead, Leonardo DiCaprio, not to mention his co-stars, Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro, and you've got all the makings of a box-office smash.

Or maybe not. Last week, Variety magazine reported that several recent films aimed at a grown-up audience had all missed their targets, among them Roofman and The Smashing Machine. And the biggest loser of them all? You guessed it. "Though the global haul of $140m (£105m) is impressive for a film that's original, R rated and nearly three hours long," said the article, "One Battle requires roughly $300m (£224m) to break even." The film's budget was $130m (£97m), according to its studio, Warner Bros, although some sources calculate that it could be more than $10m higher. With marketing costs stacked on top of that, says Variety, One Battle After Another "is tracking to lose $100 million".

The article does include a statement from Warner Bros, disputing the sums presented by Variety, but no one would argue that One Battle After Another is making a fortune. It's now been in cinemas for four weekends since its release in late September, and according to Box Office Mojo, its takings add up to just $162.5m (£119m). For those of us who would like to see a greater range of unformulaic films in cinemas, such figures look at first to be disheartening, and even perplexing. If audiences don't show up for a rollercoaster ride with Leo, what will they show up for?

The simple answer is a gloomy one: in the post-pandemic era, when so many films are available to stream, it does seem that nothing except IP-based blockbusters and horror films can tempt large numbers of paying customers into the multiplex. But that's not the whole story. From another perspective, the One Battle After Another situation can be seen as a cause for celebration.

"I think the film is doing phenomenally well," Charles Gant, box-office editor at Screen International, tells the BBC, "precisely because audiences are loving it, and word of mouth is super-positive, and the film lends itself to the PLF [premium large format] and premium experience. It's already earned almost double Paul Thomas Anderson's previous biggest film, and it should go a fair bit........

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