- 13 hours ago
Everyone wanted Sin City 2, but nobody turned up for it.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00If the history of Hollywood has proven anything, it's that audiences have shown themselves to be...
00:05...incredibly fickle. They beg and they plead for a movie to get made, but they're never even bothered...
00:10...supporting it when it hits cinemas. Now, of course, the reality is a little more nuanced...
00:15...than that, but there are a number of long-requested films that a lot of people wanted to see...
00:20...only for everyone to categorically turn their backs when they finally came out.
00:25The reasons for this are myriad. Perhaps the film was poorly marketed, or the reviews were terrible, or the...
00:30...studios simply waited too damn long to make it. But in each case, fans failed to turn...
00:35...up for a movie they insisted had to be made. To make it sting worse, most of the...
00:40...films on this list are also pretty good, such that they actually deserve to enjoy some well-earned...
00:45...box-office success rather than tanking catastrophically and having to settle for at best...
00:50...selling some DVDs or being rediscovered on streaming. Everyone was enthusiast...
00:55...about these films out of the gate, but by the time they finally hit cinemas, that excitement had...
01:00...long since faded. For shame. So, with that in mind, Ben, I'm Ellie with...
01:05...stop culture here with 10 movies everybody wanted, but nobody watched.
01:10Number 10, The Lego Movie 2, the second part. The Lego Movie was...
01:15...one of the biggest cinematic surprises of the last decade. A shockingly clever and...
01:20...a creative tribute to those teeny plastic blocks we all love...
01:23...rather than the crass, cynical...
01:25...commercial exercise it could so easily have been. The film was, consequently, a stonking...
01:30...box-office success, and a sequel was soon enough announced with The Lego Movie 2, the second part.
01:35Finally releasing five years later in February 2019.
01:40Though there was considerable initial excitement about the sequel announcement, The Lego Movie 2...
01:45...created at the box office despite solid reviews, grossing just 100 and...
01:50...or 92.4 million dollars worldwide, a mere 41.1%
01:55...of its predecessor's 468.1 million dollar haul. The reason...
02:00...ofference failure has been dissected by box office analysts ever since. Some blaming samey...
02:05...marketing which failed to distinguish it from the first film, others citing the five-year gap between movies...
02:10...and perhaps most persuasively, the ever-troubling notion of franchise fatigue.
02:15The Lego Movie 2 was actually the fourth entry into the Lego Movie franchise with...
02:20...Lego Batman and Lego Ninjago films being released during the aforementioned five-year gap.
02:25Though Lego Batman was a solid success, Lego Ninjago bombed at the box office less than...
02:30...18 months before the Lego Movie 2's release, seemingly ensuring that all...
02:35...the initial excitement around a second mainline Lego Movie dried up, killing the franchise.
02:40It's a damn shame, really, as while failing to meet the highs of its predecessor, the Lego Movie...
02:45...the Lego Movie 2 is a respectively enjoyable animated sequel.
02:48Number 9, Blade Runner...
02:50...2049.
02:51Though Ridley Scott's original Blade Runner was famously a box office...
02:55...bust upon its original 1982 release, its esteem grew exponentially in the...
03:00...screenlit a sequel, Blade Runner 2049.
03:05...Ville Neuve in 2017, with a first-rate director...
03:10...and Avengers-worthy $185 million budget, fan excitement was...
03:15...through the roof, that they were getting another mega-budget glimpse into this world some...
03:20...35 years after Scott's original.
03:23Despite the anticipation, though...
03:25...Blade Runner 2049 was a box office failure, grossing just $259...
03:30...$39.3 million worldwide.
03:33A slow-paced 160...
03:35...63-minute sequel to an artsy, philosophical, sci-fi film was never going to make a billion...
03:40...but Warner Bros. clearly hoped it would pull at least $500 million and...
03:45...prove a solid success.
03:46Despite all that passionate clamouring for a Blade Runner sequel...
03:50...evidently, a lot of people decided to stay home when it mattered most...
03:53...though it has since...
03:55...performed well on home video, that's not nearly enough to make Blade Runner 2049 profit...
04:00...incomprehensible when you factor in Warner Bros. massive marketing spend.
04:04Number 8.
04:05Dread.
04:06It can't really be understated just how much people loathe 19...
04:10...in the 1995 Sylvester Stallone starring Judge Dread film.
04:13Primarily due to Stallone's...
04:15...ego-driven decision to commit the cardinal sin of removing Dread's helmet...
04:19...as was never done...
04:20...in the comics.
04:21But when a Dread reboot was announced, comic book fans were giddy that...
04:25...Collywood had a golden opportunity to get it right this time and redeem the property.
04:29And yet...
04:30...while 2012's Dread received warmly positive reviews from critics, it bombed...
04:35...horridly at the box office, grossing just $41.5 million against...
04:40...a $45 million budget.
04:42That's barely one third of what the Stallone film made.
04:45It was 17 years earlier.
04:46The blame was largely levelled at the movie's marketing which placed...
04:50...a heavy emphasis on the 3D aspect, enough that it was actually titled Dread 3D.
04:55Though Dread has been a strong performer on home video and streaming, it's a damn shame that more...
05:00...comic book fans didn't support it theatrically, as would have actually made a sequel possible.
05:05Given that there was a considerable uptick in the popularity of R-rated superhero films...
05:10...in the years following Dread's release, things could have gone so differently with a few years different...
05:15...and a more confident, imaginative marketing campaign.
05:18Number 7. Serenity
05:20Joss Whedon's cult sci-fi TV series Firefly wasn't given much of a chance...
05:25...by Fox, who aired the original run of episodes out of order and then unceremoniously...
05:30...canceled the series in December 2002 after just 11 of its 14 episodes...
05:35...had aired.
05:36Both fans and the show's cast, led by Nathan Fillion, were devastated.
05:40And despite a concerted effort to get the series picked up by another network, it went nowhere.
05:45Yet, due to strong DVD sales, Whedon was able to get a follow-up film greenlit...
05:50...at Universal, with Serenity being released in 2005.
05:54Firefly...
05:55Firefly fans, who typically refer to themselves as browncoats, help spread word about the film online...
06:00...in an attempt to accentuate its modest marketing budget.
06:03But alas, when Firefly hit...
06:05...cinemas, it failed to break out into the wider mainstream, just barely recouping its 39...
06:10...million dollar budget.
06:11Given Firefly's mighty home video sales, it was no doubt a...
06:15...disappointing result for Universal, who quite understandably figured they'd at least turn a decent profit...
06:20...off the lower budget sci-fi production.
06:22You can blame the lacklustre marketing, which fans blame...
06:25...as some tried to bolster, or the fact that it was the glorified series finale to a cancelled TV show.
06:30But Serenity deserved to do so, so much better than this.
06:34Number 6
06:35Watchmen
06:36An adaptation of Alan Moore's legendary comic book series Watchmen...
06:40...had been in the works for roughly 20 years before the Zack Snyder version finally stuck...
06:45...and actually got made.
06:46One of the most iconic and acclaimed comics of all time, a watch...
06:50Watchmen movie seemed like an absolute slam dunk on paper, yet the complexity and ambition...
06:55...of the material also made studio executives wary.
06:58But Warner Brothers never...
07:00...nevertheless gave Snyder $138 million to make an R-rated one...
07:05...a 163-minute adaptation of Moore's novel, and one which stirred up much...
07:10...excitement when its first trailer was put in front of the Dark Knight in the summer of 2000...
07:15...2008.
07:16Reviews ultimately skewed mixed positive, but in an era where our...
07:20...orated superhero movies had yet to find their place with audiences, Watchmen's pre-release...
07:25...hype failed to translate into commercial success.
07:28Watchmen was an atrocious box...
07:30...office failure, grossing just $185.3 million worldwide.
07:35With analysts citing both its long runtime and grim tones as turning mainstream audiences...
07:40...off.
07:41It did, however, perform phenomenally well on home video, enough that it's...
07:45...was estimated to have actually turned a modest profit.
07:48Even so, that a film whose original...
07:50...trailer stirred up so much buzz online...
07:52...tanked so hard...
07:53...when it mattered most was genuinely...
07:55...dispiriting.
07:56Watchmen is generally accepted to be one of Snyder's better films...
08:00...today, and it's easy to see how its more challenging content probably would've gone down...
08:05...with today's more enlightened comic-literate audiences.
08:09As such, it's...
08:10...little surprise that HBO's recent Watchmen series, a fair improvement over Snyder's film, admitted...
08:15...was both a massive critical and ratings hit.
08:18Number 5, Snake...
08:20Snakes on a Plane.
08:21Oh, remember Snakes on a Plane?
08:23A classic example of...
08:25...it does what it says on the tin marketing.
08:27All this B-movie homage needed to sell itself was that...
08:30...ridiculous title and a trailer clip of Samuel L. Jackson...
08:33...complaining about the mother effing snakes...
08:35...on this mother effing plane.
08:37Snakes on a Plane was one of the world's first movies to be viral...
08:40...marketed online through internet memes...
08:42...before the world at large even used the word meme.
08:45The excitement was palpable enough that New Line Cinema even commissioned a small round...
08:50...of reshoots to change the movie's rating from PG-13 to R, including the...
08:55...addition of Jackson's aforementioned one-liner.
08:58To the layperson, it seemed like Snakes on a Plane...
09:00...couldn't fail.
09:01The internet couldn't get enough of how hilarious it all was, and with a 30...
09:05...$23 million budget, the path to profitability seemed fairly straightforward.
09:10Yet one...
09:10While not a catastrophic dud, it ended up underwhelming and grossing a mere 62...
09:15...million dollars, failing to even double its budget in the process.
09:19The consensus was...
09:20...that internet lols didn't translate 1 to 1 to box office success, with some suggesting...
09:25that many online fans, especially those younger enthusiasts who couldn't see the R-rated movie,
09:30in cinemas, simply pirated it instead.
09:324. Gremlins 2
09:351984's Gremlins was a massive box office hit.
09:39Grossing an incredible $212.9 million against a mere $11 million.
09:44And clearly suggesting a new Hollywood franchise had been born.
09:49Yet it was an entire six years before the sequel Gremlins 2 The New Batch arrived.
09:54And while there was plenty of initial demand for a second Gremlins, by 1990 in Tres-
09:59had seemingly waned considerably.
10:02The kids who found Gizmo adorable in 1985
10:04were now older and seemingly less interested.
10:07While the sequel's heavily satirical
10:09tongue-in-cheek tone caught many remaining fans of the original by surprise, as the first film
10:14was more of a darkly comedic horror film.
10:17As such, while saddled with a heftier 50-
10:19million dollar budget, Gremlins 2 ended up grossing a poor $41.5 million.
10:24worldwide.
10:26This was ultimately a textbook example of both what happens when
10:29when you leave audiences waiting too long for a sequel, and when you deviate from the expected
10:34sequel formula.
10:35Gremlins 2 later found itself cult fandom on home video, though-
10:39With the fact that it grossed less than 20% of the first film, while being produced at over four-
10:44four-fold the cost is nothing if not an abject failure.
10:48Number 3.
10:48Scott
10:49Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
10:51It's easy to see why everyone was excited about Scott Pilgrim-
10:54Vs. The World, an adaptation of Brian Lee O'Malley's beloved comic book, directed by Rise-
10:59and cult fave filmmaker Edgar Wright, with a crackerjack cast of likeable young actors including
11:04Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, Brandon Routh, and-
11:09Jason Schwartzman. If you were in geek nerd circles in 2010, it was easy-
11:14to believe that Scott Pilgrim was going to be a huge hit. The hype train was chugging along and-
11:19backed by strong reviews out of the gate, it seemed like a forward-thinking comic book movie that couldn't-
11:24miss. But Scott Pilgrim was ultimately a commercial dud, grossing just 40-
11:29nine point three million dollars against an 85 million dollar budget, no matter the rabbit-
11:34online enthusiasm for it. Much like snakes on a plane, this seemed to be a case of internet-
11:39fandom failing to translate into box office stubs. Given that nerd culture became considerably-
11:44more mainstream in the years that followed, it's easier to see how Scott Pilgrim would've performed much better-
11:49had it released in say 2015, arriving as it did before superhero movies-
11:54movies ruled Hollywood, and video game adaptations were taken seriously, Scott Pilgrim failed-
11:59to make general audiences bite. Even though the mainstream has come round to it more in recent-
12:04years on streaming. Number two, Sin City, a dame to kill for.
12:09Robert Rodriguez's adaptation of Miller's legendary graphic novel Sin City was a-
12:14massive critical and commercial success back in 2005, enough that a sequel-
12:19seemed inevitable. And though Rodriguez quickly got to work putting Sin City 2 together-
12:24the project was repeatedly delayed enough that it wasn't finally released until the summer of 2000-
12:292014, a whole nine years later. Against a 65-
12:34million dollar budget, Sin City a dame to kill for made just $39.4 million-
12:39not even 25% of the original's $160 million haul-
12:44It was a catastrophic result for a film that frequently landed on lists of most anticipated-
12:49movie sequels, but that ultimately took too damn long to get made. Sin City-
12:54stylistic innovations no longer seemed cutting edge in 2014, which in conjunct-
12:59production with the sequel's inferior script and reshuffled cast seemingly turned audiences off.
13:04Had Sin City 2 been made within, say, three years of the original's release, things might have-
13:09turned out quite differently. Number one, The Matrix Resurrections.
13:14Though, The Matrix Revolutions brought the original trilogy to an underwhelming end back into-
13:192003, there was still a lot of general audience goodwill for the series, and especially-
13:24The Matrix Revolutions.
13:24The Matrix Revolutions.
13:25ừ
13:29attention. The first trailer for The Matrix Resurrection stoked intense discussion online,
13:34about the potential for it to revive the long-dormant franchise, whereby it could both
13:39satisfy longtime fans and earn itself a whole new generation of supporters.
13:44Even with the film releasing simultaneously on HBO Max, Resurrection's box office figures
13:49were, to be kind, atrocious. On a $190 million budget,
13:54Resurrection's grossed just $156.6 million globally.
13:59Serving as a concrete vote of no confidence for Lana Wachowski's bold new vision.
14:04There were many factors to consider, from the pandemic to the script's aggressively
14:08meta-
14:09nature, the mediocre action sequences, and the absences of cast members Laurence Fishburne
14:14and Hugo Weaving. Releasing mere days after Spider- No Way Home as it did,
14:19the choice for casual audiences was a no-brainer, and the only folks who actually stepped out of
14:23their homes-
14:24to see The Matrix Resurrections were the most devout faithful. Despite promising mainstream
14:28engaged-
14:29movement in its marketing, Resurrections couldn't hold their attention, and once the polarizing
14:33word of-
14:34mouth got out, it was dead on arrival. And that concludes our list. If you can think of any that we-
14:39missed, then do let us know in the comments below, and while you're there don't forget to like and
14:42subscribe and tap that notification-
14:44notification bell. Also head over to Twitter and follow us there, at WhatCulture, and I can be found across-
14:49...
14:49various social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild. I've been Ellie with WhatCulture, I hope you-
14:54have a magical day, and I'll see you real soon!
Comments