Martin Scorsese’s New Movie Can Make Up For Divisive $23 Million Box Office Bomb From 8 Years Ago

If one actor ends up starring in Martin Scorsese‘s upcoming A Life of Jesus movie, it could redeem the duo’s commercial flop from eight years ago. With 2023’s Killers of the Flower Moon behind him, Martin Scorsese is embarking on his next filmmaking era. Per Variety, Scorsese has several upcoming films in the works, two of which he is expected to direct back-to-back. Ahead of his recently announced Frank Sinatra biopic starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the legendary blue-eyed crooner, Scorsese’s next film is expected to be A Life of Jesus, based on Shūsaku Endō’s 1973 book of the same name.

The prolific filmmaker first announced his tentative plans to make a movie about Jesus after meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican in May 2023. Few details have been shared about the film except that it will reportedly begin filming later this year in Israel, Italy, and Egypt and be entirely financed by Scorsese himself. Scorsese has also expressed interest in reuniting with an actor from one of his past films for ALife of Jesus. If this potential casting comes to fruition, it could redeem the commercial flop in question.

Martin Scorsese Reuniting With Andrew Garfield In Life Of Jesus Could Make Up For Silence

Garfield Starred As A Jesuit Priest In The 2016 Historical Drama

Per Variety, Scorsese is hoping to reunite with Andrew Garfield on A Life of Jesus, though it is unknown whether Scorsese wants Garfield to play Jesus himself. The two of them first collaborated on Scorsese’s 2016 historical drama Silence, also based on an Endō novel of the same name from 1966. In Silence, Garfield played a 17th-century Jesuit priest named Sebastião Rodrigues. Alongside fellow Jesuit priest Francisco Garupe (Adam Driver), the two missionaries embark on a journey to Japan to locate their missing mentor, Cristóvão Ferreira (Liam Neeson), who was forced to renounce his Christian faith.

Silence was praised by critics as “a thoughtful, emotionally resonant look at spirituality and human nature that stands among [Scorsese’s] finest works.” Though it holds an 83% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, Silence was not as well-received by audiences as reflected by its 70% audience score. While this is still a respectable enough rating, Silence still bombed at the box office, earning only $23.8 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo). If Garfield is cast in A Life of Jesus, it could give him and Scorsese the opportunity to make up for their Silence letdown with another Endō film adaptation that’s also heavily rooted in religion.

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Why Silence Didn’t Perform Well For Martin Scorsese

Silence Didn’t Click With Audiences As Much As Critics

Silence underperforming at the box office can be attributed to a few different factors. The first is that, like many Scorsese films, Silence is nearly three hours long, which is a long time for audiences to sit through at the movie theater. There also wasn’t much awards buzz surrounding Silence that would have otherwise encouraged people to go see it. Silence was only nominated for one Oscar for Best Cinematography, an unusually low number for a Scorsese movie.

The audience response from those who did go see the film also contributed to its lack of commercial success. Silence is an intense film that deals with heavy, complex themes of religion and trauma, none of which is easy for viewers to digest. Ultimately, Silence suffered commercially for a number of circumstantial and story-related reasons, but A Life of Jesus can redeem this Martin Scorsese movie’s shortcomings if Andrew Garfield is on board to star.