Flop $ 100 Million: What's wrong with Peter Jackson's Mortal Engines?

Every year, at least one huge budget movie does not fall at the box office, but dives like a turkey without flying. This is the kind of epic computation error that forces a studio to reevaluate its entire year.

For 2018, the "Death Engines" of Universal / Media Rights Capital were considered the biggest bust of the holidays – a failed monster. Or, as Jeff Bock, an exhibitor relations analyst, told Variety, "It's a real disaster for Christmas and a piece of coal for Universal."

"Mortal Engines", co-written by Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, earned $ 7.5 million in its national debut this weekend, on more than 3,100 screens. This only deepened the hole for the fantastic science fiction show, which grossed US $ 34.8 million abroad with an announced budget of US $ 100 million, which means that the film could lose more than 100 million US dollars once marketing costs have been taken into account.

Universal was widely supported this year by "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom", which achieved a worldwide business turnover of 1.3 billion US dollars and good results for "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again "(US $ 394 million worldwide)," The Grinch "(United States). $ 373 million) and "Fifty Shades Freed" ($ 371 million).

The common denominator to all these hit movies is, of course, that it's about the latest entries in existing franchises.

Still, with the "Mortal Engines" (44 points averaged on Metacritic, 28% "fresh" on rotten tomatoes), Universal has not only bet on launching a new franchise. The studio also seemed to be trying things out with so many important decisions about the movie.

There was the director first.

Yes, Peter Jackson is committed to this project – and the films he's made, punctuated by his Tolkien stories, have brought in over 6 billion US dollars worldwide. ("King Kong", his greatest director success for Universal, was 13 years ago.)

But the man who flew "Mortal Engines" is Christian Rivers, who is making his debut in directing. As a veteran of Team Jackson, Rivers is best known as an assistant effects and screenwriter who shared an Oscar for special effects for "King Kong".

While it is commendable to give Rivers a hand, the studio also signed "Mortal Engines" with almost no star (Hugo Weaving being one of his biggest international names) and having a notoriety just as limited in terms of source.

The film is an adaptation of the book series YA by Philip Reeve. Set in a post-apocalyptic steampunk world (and published more than a decade ago, while a steampunk trend was still on the rise), the novels of "Mortal Engines" do not have the name of "Hunger Games" or "Twilight". in the USA.

Then there is the story of the movie itself. "Mortal Engines" is centered on towering metropolises on wheels – a "city-city-to-eat-world" – yet the commercialization of Rivers' film did not simplify the story of world-building. aimed at movie lovers, not to mention providing a clear commercial hitch to the intriguing public. The promotion was a failure on the order of "John Carter" (2012) of Disney, whose marketing disorder condemned a decent movie (US $ 284 million gross on a production budget of $ 250 million) ).

Finally, Universal has plugged "Mortal Engines" against a much-awaited entry into a much-loved franchise: Spider-Man. Sony's "Spider-Man: In The Spider-Verse" grossed $ 35.4 million in its US debut.

Even if "Mortal Engines" had managed a poor opening weekend in North America, it would quickly have a monster in the cinematic universe like "Aquaman" and a franchise blockbuster like "Bumblebee" to face this week.

Maybe Universal was hoping to catch everything he could at the holiday box office,

But the most important thing to remember is that the studio sought to launch a new sci-fi epic – a daunting task – to begin with – with as many unfavorable factors in its favor as the project seemed doomed to failure before even starting.

Another sci-fi movie this year, "Annihilation" by Paramount, also sank at the box office, but with "only" a budget of 40 million US dollars.

In comparison, given the massive financial backing of "Mortal Engines", followed by a disastrous overture, Universal must look closely at the ruins of the most spectacularly fallen kingdom of the year.