Rock the Kasbah (film)

Plot

Richie Lanz (Bill Murray), a has-been rock manager takes his last remaining client on a USO tour of Afghanistan. When Richie finds himself in Kabul, abandoned, penniless and without his U.S. passport, he discovers a young Afghan girl named Salima with an extraordinary voice and manages her through Afghanistan's version of American Idol.

The story is very freely adapted from the 2009 documentary Afghan Star, and was dedicated to one of the stars of that film Setara Hussainzada.

Cast

Development

On September 3, 2013 QED International announced that it was producing the film with Bill Murray set to star and Barry Levinson directing with a script by Mitch Glazer. On January 30, 2014, more actors joined the film including Bruce Willis, Shia LaBeouf, Kate Hudson, Zooey Deschanel and Danny McBride, with shooting being set to start in June 2014. On February 6, 2014 it was announced that Open Road Films had acquired the US distribution rights to the film. On March 27, 2014, Shia LaBeouf dropped out of the film. On March 31, 2014, Scott Caan joined the cast to replace LaBeouf. On May 6, 2014 Australian Actor Beejan Land joined the cast. On May 28, 2014, Taylor Kinney joined the cast of the film.

Filming

Principal photography and production began on June 2, 2014, and ended on July 30, 2014.

Release

On August 20, 2014, Open Road Films announced the film would be released on April 24, 2015. On May 13, 2015, the film's release date was pushed up from November 13, 2015, to October 23, 2015.

Box office

This film was a box office bomb. It opened on October 23, 2015 alongside The Last Witch Hunter, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, and Jem and the Holograms, as well as the expanded release of Steve Jobs. In its opening weekend, the film was originally projected to gross $6 million from 2,012 theaters, however after only grossing $75,000 during its Thursday preview screenings ($60 per theater), projections were lowered to $4 million. The film grossed just $529,000 on its first day, and opening weekend projections were again lowered to $1.6 million. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $1.5 million, finishing 13th at the box office.

According to Box Office Mojo, the film had the fifth-worst opening of all-time for a film playing in 2,000+ theaters, grossing an average $731 per venue (fellow opener Jem and the Holograms had an even worse $570 average).

Critical response

Rock the Kasbah received negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 9%, based on 114 reviews, with an average rating of 3.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Shareef don't like Rock the Kasbah, and neither will viewers hoping for a film that manages to make effective use of Bill Murray's knack for playing lovably anarchic losers." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 29 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". On CinemaScore, audiences gave the film an average grade of "B–" on an A+ to F scale.