Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” was hardly a box office misfire with $73 million in the U.S. and $185 million worldwide, but those numbers still made the film a financial disappointment considering the production budget ran as high as $170 million. Based on Brian Selznick’s 2007 book “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” the movie stars Asa Butterfield as a young boy who gets caught up in a mystery involving his late father’s automaton and the pioneering filmmaker Georges Méliès. “Hugo” was nominated for 11 Oscars, including best picture, and was cited as a new family film classic by many critics upon release. As Variety noted: “In attempting to make his first film for all ages, Martin Scorsese has fashioned one for the ages. Simultaneously classical and modern, populist but also unapologetically personal, ‘Hugo’ flagrantly defies the mind-numbing quality of most contemporary kid pics and instead rewards patience, intellectual curiosity and a budding interest in cinema itself.”
