That's in stark contrast to The Social Network, another talky Aaron Sorkin film about a prickly technology star that captured the zeitgeist. Variety has already begun to ask what went wrong, claiming that while Facebook (and its relatively unknown founder) was just cresting the mainstream when the film launched -- Jobs was already far too well-known. In addition, the casting of talented character actors rather than a brand name failed to draw in fair-weather cinema goers. That, possibly, links back to the rumor that Laurene Powell-Jobs contacted both Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale, asking them not to take the role.

The studio, meanwhile, reportedly believes that a talky, cerebral film like Steve Jobs will be a slow burner, and should hang around in theaters for a long while. If it can remain around until awards season, then it might enjoy a late-period surge that Jobs himself enjoyed when he returned to Apple. That probably won't matter to the folks over at Cupertino, who will probably greet the news of the film's failure with the sound of popping champagne corks.