Film Case Studies - British Production

Diana

This British biopic is based upon the relationships of Princess Diana during the two years before her death after her marriage ended to Prince Charles. This film seemed to be a failure at the box office, both within the UK and abroad and was panned by critics. The film was the product of German director Oliver Hirschbeigel, who also directed Acadamy-Award nominated Downfall. Diana however was not met with such acclaim by UK critics, being brandished as car crash cinema.

Box Office
UK box office: $3 million
US box office: $335 000
Total box office: $7.5 million

One reason for it's unfortunate failure is bottled down to the casting of Diana herself, the character is a British icon yet it was not a British actress who was cast to play her, but an Australian/British actress Naomi Watts. There was much controversy with this casting, which would have easily been forgiven by critics and audiences had there been an underlying good performance. However, critics were instead much harsher on this acadamy award winning actress after her performace was described as dreadful. This controversy could have had a high impact on the failure of this film at box office.
Critics have given this film an 8% approval rating on Rotton Tomatoes along with an average 3.5/10 rating.
This screenplay was based upon a 2001 book, Diana: Her Last Love