Sorkin's 'The Social Reckoning' Opens to Mixed Reviews and Soft Box Office Tracking
Aaron Sorkin's Facebook follow-up hits theaters Friday. Critics are split, trackers see a single-digit opening weekend, and Sony's awards play is in doubt.
The reviews are in for The Social Reckoning. Aaron Sorkin's follow-up to The Social Network opens in theaters Friday. The verdict: mixed.
The review embargo lifted Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. ET, per The Hollywood Reporter. The film now sits at 50 on Metacritic and 67% on Rotten Tomatoes. Some critics singled out the performances for praise. The main complaints: Sorkin's direction and a preachy tone.
The box office outlook is softer. Boxoffice Pro projects a $6 million to $10 million opening weekend. Box Office Theory sees $8 million to $13 million. World of Reel has it at $4 million to $6 million. No tracker has it above $13 million.
The comparison is not flattering. The Social Network opened to $22.4 million in 2010 and made $225 million worldwide. The follow-up reportedly cost about $50 million to make.
A leak, not a startup
This one is less about Facebook's founding than its fallout. The film centers on the 2021 Facebook leak. Mikey Madison plays whistleblower Frances Haugen. Jeremy Allen White plays the Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz. Jeremy Strong plays Mark Zuckerberg. Jesse Eisenberg, who played Zuckerberg in the original, turned down a return. Bill Burr, Wunmi Mosaku, Betty Gilpin and Billy Magnussen round out the cast. It is rated R and runs 113 minutes.
Sorkin wrote The Social Network but did not direct it. David Fincher did. This time Sorkin is writing and directing. His past directing credits are Molly's Game, The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Being the Ricardos. Sony reportedly greenlit the project as an awards play.
Early social reactions out of press screenings Monday were warmer. Several praised Strong's performance and described the film as a slow-burn legal drama.
The Social Reckoning opens Friday in roughly 2,500 theaters. It shares the weekend with Jessica Chastain's horror film Other Mommy, which opens in about 3,200 theaters and is tracking at $15 million to $25 million, per Boxoffice Pro.
