The Big Bang Theory star wrote a major comedy flop

Sometimes, a movie doesn’t get the credit it deserves, even if all the right parts seem to be in place. This was the case with “Bronze”. A comedy released by Sony Pictures Classics in 2016, the film was largely dead on arrival and did not register at all with moviegoers at the time despite its writing and acting. Melissa Rauch of “The Big Bang Theory” fame.. Keep in mind, this was when CBS sitcoms were still thriving on the air. So, what went wrong?

For those who may not be familiar, “The Bronze” focuses on Hope Ann Gregory (Rauch). Hope was once America’s sweetheart, but Hope’s performance on a torn Achilles tendon at a prestigious gymnastics championships when she was younger brought glory to her small Ohio hometown. However, in the years following her third place win, she didn’t do much with her life. Still living in her father Stan’s (Gary Cole) basement, Hope spends her days at the mall milking young celebrities. That is, until her routine is turned upside down when she learns that she must coach the newest gymnastics prodigy in town, Maggie (Haley Lu Richardson), in order to receive a large inheritance.

Commercial director Brian Buckley directed The Bronze, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2015. At the time, /FIlm gave the film a rating of six out of 10Sony Pictures Classics ended up swooping in to acquire the rights, eventually giving the film a theatrical release the following year. Not only is Rauch starring, but the cast also includes the likes of Sebastian Stan (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”), Gary Cole (“Office Space”), Thomas Middleditch (“Silicon Valley”), and Cecily Strong (“Saturday Night Live”).

On paper, The Bronze had a lot going for it, including a great cast, a major film festival debut, and a very strong premise. So, again, what went wrong? Well, a lot, as it turns out.

First and foremost, critics were generally not on Bronze’s side. As of this writing, the film has a very poor approval rating of 37% Rotten tomatoes. Viewers didn’t respond any better, with an audience rating of just 44%. Critical reception like this is always hard to overcome, no matter what genre or person your film is in. There are situations like “Venom” where critics largely dislike the movie but audiences disagree. here? They were very much allied.

To make matters worse, Sony released the film in March 2016. Disney’s “Zootopia” was in the midst of a record $1 billion grosstopping the charts for the third weekend in a row. There were also other surviving audience-friendly works like “10 Cloverfield Lane,” “Deadpool” and “The Revenant” doing business as well.

As far as new releases going this weekend, Lionsgate released Allegiant is the third film in the Divergent serieswith the religious picture “Miracles from Heaven” also arriving, both of which made the top five. That didn’t leave much room for “The Bronze,” which finished in 25th place, earning just $386,328 from 1,167 screens for a dismal $331 per-screen average. It was completely DOA and was out of theaters within a few weeks, making a total of just $615,816. The only upside for Sony here was the budget, which was a modest $3.5 million. So, fortunately, it’s not as if the studio had a huge fortune at stake here.

In this case, the film made its way to streaming, where it had the opportunity to find an audience over the following years. How much playback on Hulu or VOD helped Sony recoup the investment is unknown, but there’s no telling why, it simply didn’t work in its original run.

“The Bronze” is currently available on VOD, Or you can get it on Blu-ray/DVD via Amazon.