Monkey Man’s plot potential is $19 – 32MM (actual $25MM)
The plot structure will appeal to ~ 0.63% of the population
Revenue potential: $19–32 MM in the domestic market
Monkey Man is an action thriller directorial debut of Dev Patel. The movie is about a common man fighting an evil system to avenge the death of a loved one. Mythosis extracted the movie's plot structure with three mythological tales to estimate its box-office potential.
Mythological tales reveal the invisible Plot Structure of Monkey Man
Stories are an interweaving of quests, each representing a fundamental human desire. These desires echo across time and cultures, finding their universal counterparts in mythological tales.
94% of the events in the story is borrowed from three mythological tales. There are 2 prominent characters in the movie.
Rana’s quest mirrors the tale of Kans from Hindu mythology, where both are driven by the desire to survive a threat. Kans’ nemesis, Krishn escapes from prison. Rana/Baba’s nemesis, Kid escapes from the police custody.
Kid’s quest mirrors the tale of Duryodhan from Hindu mythology, where both are driven by the desire to confront offenders. Duryodhan tracks down the Pandavas and attacks them but is defeated. Kid gains access to Rana through Queenie’s club but is taken into custody after a brutal fight.
Kid’s quest also mirrors the tale of Krishn from Hindu mythology, where both are driven by the desire for fairness & justice. Krishn remains in hiding till he grows up, then returns to Mathura to kill Kans. Kid trains in hiding and goes back to kill Rana.
Baba has an underdeveloped quest, mirroring the tale of Circe from Greek mythology where both are driven by the desire to dominate others.
Neela, Alphonso, Sita & Alpha have no quests.
Detailed mirroring of each character to their respective mythological tales is in section “Unlocking the Ideal Plot Structure”
Blockbusters differ from Flops in the way they borrow from mythological tales
Blockbuster stories consistently defy the norms of conventional plot structures. The analysis of Blockbuster, Hit & Flop plot structures across decades and genres has uncovered an optimal method for incorporating mythological tales into storytelling. The Mythosis Code for creating blockbuster plot structures has the following principles -
Every blockbuster plot structure borrows events from at least three mythological tales.
Blockbuster characters are consistent and complex. Each character in the story reflects events from a single mythological tale, and the degree of mirroring is approximately 35%.
Blockbusters create a cohesive plot structure by intricately weaving the multiple tales. Characters are woven with each other through their quests and not merely by relationships. Quests become interconnected when events from two mythological tales occur simultaneously within the story.
Mythosis Code evaluation of Monkey Man’s Plot structure
Monkey Man’s plot structure borrows from three mythological tales.
Kid’s character mirrors events from two tales making him inconsistent. Rana uniquely mirrors a single tale.
Both the quests of Kid & Rana are below threshold. Rana borrows 29% of the events from Kans’s quest. Kid borrows 12% of the events from Krishn’s quest. He also borrows 10% of the events from Duryodhan’s quest.
Blockbusters have a quest interweaving threshold of 0.50. Monkey Man’s quest interweaving score of 0.33 is below par. Here is an example of interweaving the quests of Kid & Rana:
Estimated potential of Monkey Man’s Plot Structure
Each one of us is driven by at least one desire, which is why specific mythological tales resonate with us. When a story interweaves more tales, it broadens the story’s appeal to a wider audience. However, to realize the power of multiple quests, the quests must have sufficient depth and they should be interwoven.
Monkey Man's plot structure suffers from character inconsistency since Kid mirrors two quests. Moreover, none of the quests have sufficient depth and the interweaving is below par. As a result, the characters lack depth & complexity and the plot is a disjointed sequence of events.
We have created an algorithm by assigning weights to the principles of The Mythosis Code. The algorithm calculates the potency of a story’s plot structure and estimates its corresponding audience appeal. Blockbuster plot structures have a score of at least 0.64 and appeal to 20% of the audiences.
Monkey Man’s plot structure has a score of 0.02. Monkey Man will appeal to approximately 0.63% of the population. Our estimate of the movie’s revenues from its audience appeal is $19 – 32MM in the domestic market.
Unlocking the Ideal Plot Structure of Monkey Man
We have identified 32 universal quests that represent every human desire. These quests are the superset of thousands of stories across cultures that reflect our collective subconscious. Each quest has a structured sequence of events divided into 5 major arcs.
We map a character’s quest to the relevant mythological tale (universal quest) which reveals the gaps in their quest, if any. The ideal Plot Structure is constructed by plugging these gaps with the missing events from the tale. These events strengthen each character’s journey and weaving of quests without altering the story.
Extraction of each character quest
Quest 1: Rana mirrors the universal quest for Preservation
Rana’s desire for Preservation stems from the need to survive a threat. The tale of Kans from Hindu mythology is the universal quest for Preservation.
Quest 2: Kid mirrors the universal quest for Vengeance
Kid’s desire for Vengeance stems from the need to confront offenders. The tale of Duryodhan from Hindu mythology is the universal quest for Vengeance.
Quest 3: Kid also mirrors the universal quest for Idealism
Kid’s desire for Idealism stems from the need for fairness & justice. The tale of Krishn from Hindu mythology is the universal quest for Idealism.
Ideal Plot structure reconstruction
All blockbusters interweave at least 3 mythological tales. Each tale is mirrored by a single character. Every character borrows 35%+ events from their respective tale. A redraft of the script is necessitated by the fact that Monkey Man doesn’t adhere to any of the first principles of storytelling.
Tags:2024, Bron Studios, Character Arcs, Dev Patel, Duryodhan, Idealism, John Collee, Kans, Krishn, Mythology, Paul Angunawela, Preservation, Screenwriting, Story plot, storytelling, Universal Pictures, Vengeance
