• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

'Blade Runner 2049' Is A Box Office Disaster With Poor $13M Friday

Status
Not open for further replies.
I mean to be honest... I... did the same thing? I know what most of my friends enjoy and what their tolerance levels are for arthouse stuff. The ones who would enjoy this movie already watched it.


If people can seat through shit like transformers which is over 2 hour and 30 mins, anyone can sit through BR 2049.
 

blakep267

Member
I don't like Gosling. I don't think he is very popular with movie goers in general tbh. He has a hardcore fan base that can make him appear popular and he is a heartthrob but overall I don't think he is who you want in a movie if you want it to make a lot of money.

I will see it at one point for sure.
I thought I was the only one. I didn't like him in drive or any of the other critical movies he's in. Just don't like the dude or find him convincing
 

JCG

Member
I imagine they might recover from this through international box office results plus home video sales/streaming rights.
 
Should have been crappy superheroes movie instead for instant box office hit.

Hopefully rest of world saves us from future full of YA movies and Marvel/DC endless sequels.
 

NCSOFT

Member
I mean to be honest... I... did the same thing? I know what most of my friends enjoy and what their tolerance levels are for arthouse stuff. The ones who would enjoy this movie already watched it.

you could instead tell them to stray out of them comfort zone once in a while, I don't think it hurts.
 

Fox Mulder

Member
It's good, but a sequel to a 30 year old movie.

The studio didn't do shit to make the original more accessible. It's not on any paid streaming service like Netflix. It was out of print on bluray for months until just recently.
 
It unfortunately doesn't surprise me. I don't recall seeing many ads for it and was among the apparent many who was unsure how much friends/family would be interested. This with the knowledge of complaints of it being slow. As I said in another thread, we almost shifted to American Made.

Theater had 12 or so people in it at a 3 pm showing yesterday but everyone seemed engaged with it, none of these absurd walkouts I hear about. Loved the film overall and considering watching again in theaters. If not, definitely Day 1 on the bluray.
 

Sygma

Member
So wait I don't really get how Arrival topped the charts, a very subdued, woolgathering sci-fi film with linguistics porn, but not this thing with the force of a thousand cyberpunk nerds pushing it, Harrison Ford and a known pedigree.

Is cyberpunk dead? Is it lack of tweests? Not enough sentimentality? Marketing?

Probably ghost in the shell before it

Mainstream audience isnt too big on cyberpunk anymore.

Total Recall reboot grossed $198,467,168 for a budget of 125 so yeah
 

dmshaposv

Member
This was Dennis' first blockbuster film? (as in budget wise)

I'm suprised that the studio didnt meddle with the film to make it more approachable/mass audience friendly. It's impressive they let him do his own thing and it gave us an amazing film that only few would love.

In comparison, Nolan seems to have learnt a lot from making blockbusters like TDK and knowing what appeals to the hoi polloi (especially stuff like interstellar and dunkirk that did well despite their genres).
 

DarkestHour

Banned
I had no idea this movie was even out yet. Have not seen a single commercial for it. I thought it was still years out...
 
It's good, but a sequel to a 30 year old movie.

The studio didn't do shit to make the original more accessible. It's not on any paid streaming service like Netflix. It was out of print on bluray for months until just recently.

This is definitely one of the biggest factors. When you have a VEEEERY niche property, the last thing you want to do is scare away even more viewers who don't want to walk into a movie without the right "context". They should have hyped up a reprint of ONE version, and released it for streaming services in the month leading up to the movie.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Welp, between this and GITS bombing, no more cyberpunk.

Fuck I hate people.

After all the handwringing over Akira, if it actually gets made, I bet it bombs too.
 
I'm suprised that the studio didnt meddle with the film to make it more approachable/mass audience friendly. It's impressive they let him do his own thing and it gave us an amazing film that only few would love.

The original Blade Runner is probably the most famous case of studio meddling in history, so they were likely very aware that any perception of interfering with the director's vision could backfire badly.
 

Kallor

Member
What a shame. The movie is amazing. (enjoyed it more than the original)

Here's hoping a good word of mouth and bluray sales save this fucker.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
This is definitely one of the biggest factors. When you have a VEEEERY niche property, the last thing you want to do is scare away even more viewers who don't want to walk into a movie without the right "context". They should have hyped up a reprint of ONE version, and released it for streaming services in the month leading up to the movie.
When Tron Legacy came out, the theory is that Disney deliberately buried the old Tron because they didn't want people to watch the original. Too boring for mass audiences.

Maybe Columbia thought the same about the first BR.
 
The average American movie goer vs the true auteurs on NeoGaf that see Blade Runner
wpid-img_747552849399273.jpeg
 
I feel like they featured Denis Villeneuve rather prominently in a lot of the promo material, and for the mass audience maybe he comes across as a little too...foreign?
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
If people can seat through shit like transformers which is over 2 hour and 30 mins, anyone can sit through BR 2049.
Isn't Transformers 2 hours of explosions.

I feel like they featured Denis Villeneuve rather prominently in a lot of the promo material, and for the mass audience maybe he comes across as a little too...foreign?
Arrival was a hit wasn't it? They probably thought there was some cachet with scifi fans.
 

Raziel

Member
I'm not surprised it's not done well - I'm amazed something like this even got made.

Like Fury Road, I think we just need to be thankful it exists.

This movie can't hold Fury Road's cod piece.

In terms of sequels to franchises from the late 70s/early 80s, this was more in line with the The Force Awakens/Rogue One school of sequels than Fury Road - right down to trotting out old Harrison Ford and CG versions of characters from the old movie. Getting a sequel to an established IP that just throws out all the old, keep the callbacks to a minimum, and moves forward with basically new everything is a rare gem that I imagine will not come along again for a long time.
 
Giving a $150 million budget on an extremely niche cyberpunk film that initially flopped was a poor decision no matter how you cut it. Couple this with the fact that the original is incredibly inaccesible in terms of streaming, then you get this failure.
 

blakep267

Member
Isn't Transformers 2 hours of explosions.


Arrival was a hit wasn't it? They probably thought there was some cachet with scifi fans.
Even then transformers 2-3 were really pushing it time wise and boring. Aside from Lord of the rings and Harry Potter, and TF before he downfall, what else was long and doing good numbers
 
Once again the marketing for this movie sucked. As with the original, they pitched it as a cool-looking sci-fi action film when it was anything but.
 

DavidDesu

Member
If people can seat through shit like transformers which is over 2 hour and 30 mins, anyone can sit through BR 2049.

Exactly. Also seen people say it's a tough sell because of it's melancholic narrative...


People pay money to sit through absolutely depressing, vulgar, dire shite like The Human Centipede, or Hostel, or whatever horror gore shite they can come up with.

Humanity was a mistake, I want to be a Replicant.
 
Exactly. Also seen people say it's a tough sell because of it's melancholic narrative...


People pay money to sit through absolutely depressing, vulgar, dire shite like The Human Centipede, or Hostel, or whatever horror gore shite they can come up with.

Humanity was a mistake, I want to be a Replicant.
It’s disingenous to compare those films to a film with Bladerunner’s budget.
 

darscot

Member
I could care less how much money it makes or loses. I actually hope it flops. If it was a smash hit they would pump out garbage sequels. It was awesome and I loved it end of story. Can’t wait to watch th3 4K at home.
 
We really can't have nice things. This was the best sci fi film I've watched in recent years and way better than Arrival. The aesthetic is simply too good, a masterpiece really. I admit that the movie is slow and could be too slow for some people, for me it was perfect. I was never bored at what I was seeing in front of me, when the plot wasn't moving the visuals were.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom