The Phoenician Scheme, the latest film by the comedic film director and writer Wes Anderson, has achieved about $18 million at the worldwide box office in the first ten days of release. $7 million originated from domestic ticket sales. Anderson has had relatively modest but consistent box office success in the second half of his career, especially with regard to what it costs to produce his films: The Grand Budapest Hotel was his highest earner with $174 million earnings in 2014. His next three films, Isle Of Dogs, The French Dispatch, and Asteroid City, earned $73 million, $46.3 million, and $54 million worldwide gross respectively as well. Isle Of Dogs being an animated film likely boosted its success by giving the film a higher draw among children, while Anderson’s live-action work would tend to skew towards an older crowd. Budapest Hotel, French Dispatch, and Asteroid City were all made by Anderson on a sizable budget of $25 million, which he accomplishes by his cast and crew typically working for scale and his biggest stars waiving their more expensive fees for the privilege of working with Anderson. Symbiotically, this allows Anderson to devote more of the budget to the craft of his films, denoted by their artisanal and handmade quality, and the presence of major stars likely boosted his films to box office success due to the relatively small cost attached to making them.

Comparing these films to Anderson’s early career, his second film, Rushmore, made $19 million worldwide in 1998. Although adjusted for inflation, it made the equivalent of $37 million, closer in scale to Anderson’s newest films, but still showing a growth in Anderson’s reach towards audiences.

In terms of audience reception, The Phoenician Scheme, Anderson’s twelfth film (thirteenth if one counts The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar And Three More, Netflix’s packaging of four short film adaptations of Roald Dahl stories that were initially released separately, which won Anderson and his Indian Paintbrush producer Steven Rales the Academy Award For Best Live-Action Short) has been noted to been received with more of an ambiguous response. Notably, the film obtained a B- CinemaScore, putting Phoenician Scheme below Asteroid City‘s B CinemaScore. Yet it should be noted that only half of Anderson’s films have been screened and given a CinemaScore to begin with. Anderson’s biggest hit, The Grand Budapest Hotel, is among the ones to have not been given a score. Generally speaking, Anderson’s films appeal to a more niche audience, and he is respected by critics. In terms of the box office, his films have done well, and while Phoenician Scheme has a lower score than his last, it is not unlikely it could still do well. The film still has a major cast of A-list talent to boost among general audiences, including classic American stars such as Tom Hanks, Bill Murray, and Scarlett Johansson, Oscar winners Benicio del Toro and Riz Ahmed, and Oscar nominees Willem Dafoe, Bryan Cranston, Jeffrey Wright. Also, part of the cast is Anderson’s knack for casting newcomers such as Mia Threapleton and major presences of American independent film as Michael Cera and Hope Davis and French cinema with Mathieu Amalric, and Charlotte Gainsbourg.