Fate has finally dealt Tarot a winning hand with audiences, at least on streaming. The quite disappointing horror film, which stars Spider-Man alum Jacob Batalon, is currently trending at No. 3 on Netflix following its online debut on Thursday, August 1. Directors Anna Halberg and Spenser Cohen’s attempt at scaring up audiences theatrically resulted in mixed results. First, it’s important to note that Tarot did well financially while playing in cinemas.
With a budget of only $8 million, Tarot made $18.8 million domestically (per Box Office Mojo), but the macabre movie did even better business overseas. Internationally, the Batalon-led flick made an additional $30.3 million. And Tarot did particularly well in both Spain ($2.4 million) and France ($2.2 million) en route to a worldwide total of $49.1 million. That’s over six times its production budget… definitely a win.
2/5
The plot centers on a group of college friends who start dying in ways that are related to their fortunes after having their tarot cards read. Before their time runs out, they have to work together to uncover the mystery.
Release Date May 3, 2024
Director Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg
Runtime 92 minutes
Writers Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg
Studio(s) Screen Gems , Alloy Entertainment , Ground Control
Distributor(s) Sony Pictures Releasing
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Second, it is amazing Tarot did so well. Neither fans nor audiences particularly cared for the horror film — and that’s being kind. Halberg and Cohen’s movie registers a paltry 18% on the Tomatometer against 57 reviews, and its Rotten Tomatoes audience score is currently 59%, at the time of this writing. The film’s best rating comes courtesy of the fans departing theaters right after seeing the picture, as audiences gave Tarot a “C-” CinemaScore. Even for a scary film, though, that’s a pretty low grade.
Jacob Batalon Believes Tarot Is Quite Unique
Tarot takes its box office success to streaming, and it appears that audiences are at the very least curious about Netflix’s latest streaming option from the horror genre. Perhaps, the film’s viewership numbers will soon reflect a better reaction from audiences than those initially received on Rotten Tomatoes and CinemaScore. However, as far as star Jacob Batalon is concerned, Tarot possesses a uniqueness that sets it apart from other scary movies. Batalon said in an interview with MovieWeb:
“I thought it was really fun and a really different take on the horror genre.
We’ve never really seen something based on tarot before.
I feel like a lot of young people today are into star signs and whatnot.
It’s very relatable in that sense.
And having a bunch of college friends and making jokes about it is going to be great.”
Related Spider-Man Star’s New Horror Movie Delivers Terrifyingly Low Rotten Tomatoes Score
MCU star Jacob Batalon has seen his recent success come crashing down with his new horror movie Tarot’s terrible run of reviews.
In an interview with Moviefone, Batalon continued to praise Tarot. “I thought it was such a funny, also very great and relatable movie,” Batalon says. “I think that the friend group relationship is so strong that you don’t want to see any of them die. The movie itself just turned out to be so great.” Batalon also praised his castmates during the same sit-down by saying (below):
“Everyone was so talented and so fun to be around.
I think the girls were really into tarot for sure, they were really all about it. It was just a typical friend group.
I think especially being the only Americans around in Serbia and Belgrade,
we had to stick together.
I think that really grew out the chemistry as well too, so it was a lot of jokes for sure.”
While MovieWeb’s own review of Tarot clocks in at a mere 2-out-5 score, it’s clear that the horror film benefits greatly from Batalon’s presence throughout. The actor’s performance is quite different from what he offers on-screen in the Tom Holland-led Spider-Man movies, and Batalon gets an opportunity to expand those acting chops of his in Netflix’s new addition.
Tarot
is now streaming on
Netflix,
but it is not available on the streaming service’s ad-supported plans.
You can view the original article HERE.
