'Killing Them Softly' flopped painfully at the US box office with takings of only $7 million on its opening weekend.

Despite its Hollywood hero protagonist Brad Pitt, Andrew Dominik's adaption of George V. Higgins' novel 'Cogan's Trade' did not receive the response expected at its opening this weekend. Various interesting thoughts have since been brought up as to why, perhaps, it didn't garner the attention it was hoping for. For example, it has been suggested that the genre, excessively bloody black comedy, has been overdone recently in recent flicks such as Martin McDonagh's 'Seven Psychopaths' and Matthew Vaughn's 'Kick-Ass' and therefore has lost its appeal. Other suggestions have been that it is simply the director's work being mediocre as this is one of the biggest flops in Brad Pitt's career not unlike 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' which was also directed by Dominik. 

Bad reviews have also been factors to blame for the second-rate box office ratings but Brad Pitt himself was also slated as hindering the movie's success due to attracting the wrong audiences and ultimately disappointing them. We can't imagine it will be too much of a blow for Pitt though, who will probably only be upset that he has less money to give to the needy after donating £700 in a charity whip round while filming in Dorset, England, this summer.