Universal Studios, the folks that brought you nearly SEVEN BILLION dollars worth of brain food last year with hits like Jurassic World, Fast & Furious 7 and Minions may lose as much as $70 million dollars, according to Variety. But don’t worry, The Fast and the Furious franchise didn’t get it right again until film number four: there’s hope yet! You may be wondering how they possibly got it wrong after a grossing $397 million off the Kristen Stewart led Snow White and the Huntsman.
Personally, I knew Universal was doomed when they announced they were making a prequel about a ketchup delivery man, starring Chris Hemsworth, in lieu of the Team Edward vampire chick. Maybe Chris should have worn a red cape? Or carried a hammer. And I’m not even joking (the red cape, at least, would make sense for a ketchup delivery dude).
Chris Hemsworth carried titles, excluding those from the Marvel Universe, are no sure bet at the box office:
- Rush (2013): production budget 38M; total gross 90M (only 27M domestically)
- Blackhat (2015): production budget 70M; total gross 20M
- In the Heart of the Sea (2015): production budget 100M; total gross 94M
That’s not even factoring in advertising budgets. But let’s not put this all on Mr. Hemsworth: I’m sure the story and filmmaking had something to do with it. Currently, the film is sitting on a rotten throne of 16% critic approval on RottenTomatoes and even the more forgiving audience score it teetering on opinions of terrible and pure horse sh*t, at 51%. Box office franchises don’t survive with approval ratings equivalent to those of sitting presidents.
The truth is, a prequel, of a reimagining of a classic story, minus its original formula and star power and director, faces an uphill battle.
[via Variety]
