Anthony Hopkins' New Film Is A Flop Of Epic Proportions

Heard about Anthony Hopkins’ new movie, ‘Kidnapping Freddy Heineken’?

Well, it appears you’re not on your own. The Welsh acting legend’s latest cinematic salvo opened last weekend, but only brought in £1,385.

Hardly a tent-pole release, the movie rolled out on 10 screens in the UK, so that’s an average of £138.50 per cinema.

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The British-Dutch co-production, helmed by Daniel Alfredson, the less prolific older brother of 'Let The Right One In’ and 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ director Tomas Alfredson, is based on the real-life 1983 kidnapping of Freddy Heinenken, the former chairman of the brewing dynasty - who is played by Hopkins.

He and his driver Ab Doderer were taken on November 9, before a ransom of 35 million Dutch guilders (about £11 million) was paid, the largest known ransom paid for an individual.

But despite an inherently gripping story, and a pretty decent supporting cast comprising Sam Worthington, Jim Sturgess and Ryan Kwanten, the film has singularly flopped (you can check the trailer for yourself down at the bottom).

Thunderingly bad reviews did perhaps not help matters.

It has a lowly 27% 'fresh’ score on reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with the majority of critics giving it a panning.

“Despite its true-events pedigree, Kidnapping Mr. Heineken is woefully captive to B-movie crime saga tropes,” said Robert Abele in the Los Angeles Times.

Scott Foundas in Variety was less kind, saying: “About as appealing as day-old beer littered with cigarette butts, the abysmal caper drama Kidnapping Mr. Heineken is one of those international co-productions produced for all the right tax-credit reasons and none of the right artistic ones.”

Mike McCahill in The Guardian suggested that 'taking beer goggles’ might assist movie-goers.

A nail in the coffin was provided by Frank Scheck in The Hollywood Reporter, who surmised: “By the time the relatively brief but seemingly interminable proceedings reach their conclusion, viewers may feel like they’ve been held hostage themselves.”

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Image credits: Alchemy