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

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Violet_0

Banned
The scenes with the
guy running the orphanage
were meaningless.

it established how little value even a real human life actually has in the BR universe.
The children live in a landfill, are used for slave labor, and anyone who walks in there can take one home, since they are so numerous and just as easily replaced as replicants. What dragged out a bit too long was K wandering around in the factory and figuring out that he knows the place, long after the audience made the connection
 

jph139

Member
I mean, the original is a cult classic on a good day - like, I feel like most people who would call themselves Blade Runner fans say they didn't like it the first time. That puts such a low ceiling.

As someone who likes, but doesn't love, the original, I have no interest in seeing 2049 right now. Maybe eventually. But you have to be in a certain mood to watch 3 hours of slow, dialogue-heavy, contemplative cyberpunk. I'm not in that mood often. Mainstream audiences? Forget about it.
 

jackal27

Banned
Shame. It was a great movie, but definitely not something I could see taking off with general audiences. Sucks that we'll now see less films like it that take a lot of risks and let their scenes and dialogue breathe.
 

nomis

Member
FOX has been seemingly happy with their R rated superhero movies, so I guess we'll still have more of those.

You know Dune isn't gonna happen anymore though :((

lol why is this at all the case? despite having Villeneuve signed on as well, I don't see a direct line between 2049 and Dune getting green lit. I also fail to see how Denis is going to take the fall for 2049 ”underperforming" (studio having unrealistic expectations). All of the critical response praises his work.
 
Why would you spend that much as a budget? It looks interesting but not sure who the target was for this movie to justify a budget even close to that.
 

NateDog

Member
I can almost understand this happening, it's a near 3-hour sequel after almost 40 years to a movie that had a pretty bad reception initially and has 4 different cuts. The only difference is the good vibes and positive reviews and opinions may help it along for the rest of the month, whereas normally with movies that bomb they drop off pretty quickly.
 

robotrock

Banned
lol why is this at all the case? despite having Villeneuve signed on as well, I don’t see a direct line between 2049 and Dune getting green lit. I also fail to see how Denis is going to take the fall for 2049 “underperforming” (studio having unrealistic expectations). All of the critical response praises his work.

Nothing to do with the fact Villeneuve is signed on to both. I just don't see Dune getting the budget it would need after the box office performance Blade Runner is pulling in. I just see producers looking at these numbers and thinking that there isn't much of a market for this kind of scifi.
 
The theater my brother and I saw it in this Friday night was practically empty. We were really surprised.

Same here. My girlfriend and I walked in expecting to scope out some ok seats. Turns out we were the only ones in there until after the previews had started.

It was odd because the parking lot was rather full and we hadn't been to that mall theater in years.

I slightly expected this though, as the first one is of cult status. I was in disbelief that a sequel was greenlit in the first place! I loved it so much though. Can't wait to preorder the UHD set.
 
I don't get it. Blade Runner is a cult, trailers were good, reviews were pretty good... what happened? Do people really hate sci-fi?
 

Doc Holliday

SPOILER: Columbus finds America
Why would you spend that much as a budget? It looks interesting but not sure who the target was for this movie to justify a budget even close to that.

Harrison ford
Ryan Gosling
Did you not see the amount of cg, insane camera setups, or the sets?

Edit: misread your post, ignore my post :)

I'm going to my part and I'm going to see it again
 
Nothing to do with the fact Villeneuve is signed on to both. I just don't see Dune getting the budget it would need after the box office performance Blade Runner is pulling in. I just see producers looking at these numbers and thinking that there isn't much of a market for this kind of scifi.
Dune is a much easier sell then Bladerunner I think. As long as they don't make it strange like the earlier movie. Just a messiah story with cool visuals.
 

blakep267

Member
This morning I got up around 3am because I couldn't sleep and I see Blade Runner 1 on syfy. So I watch it for z3 hours. This is what BR2049 is to me. I'll gladly watch it at 3am randomly one day and enjoy it. But I don't have the desire to go see it in a theater
 

TheXbox

Member
I don't get it. Blade Runner is a cult, trailers were good, reviews were pretty good... what happened? Do people really hate sci-fi?
Maybe it would've performed better as a summer tentpole? Not that this summer wasn't completely stacked, but I don't know what kind of precedent there is for massive science fiction films in October. It can't be down to the property. Blade Runner has been established for so long, everyone who cares about movies and sci-fi at least knows about it.

I don't know. I was bewildered when I saw this thread after walking out of the theater. If this film's performance kills Dune I'm going to be devastated.
 

Timbuktu

Member
I don't get it. Blade Runner is a cult, trailers were good, reviews were pretty good... what happened? Do people really hate sci-fi?

It didn't do badly if you compare it to comparable sci if. It's just that it was so expensive that it needed to grab regular blockbuster audience.

You know that if this was Ridley's, he would just let studio chop it to bits and rely on a KoH style director's cut. I'm happy this version of a chance the cinema, but I don't think it needed to be this expensive.

I mean, you have to hand it to Nolan. Dunkirk only did "well" because they controlled its costs. That's gives him the leeway to take continually take risks.
 
I look forward to seeing it.


How often does it happen that a movie has a weak debut, but long legs and end up making up for it? Can word of mouth help this film?
 

Kieli

Member
DADES would've done better. Smaller budget. Less punk. More philosophical. Complete with some mind-blown twists to make people feel really smart for watching it.

It's my personal opinion that a work that relies heavily on plot twists to entertain the reader can never reach the upper echelons of story telling. The most celebrated and studied works were always about the characters, the mood, and the themes expressed through the prose.

Not about silly things like, "Man, I never predicted Luke was his father!?"

That's why I always found criticism like, "I predicted those plot twists, therefore movie was bad" to be a tad hollow because if that's all the story/movie/book had to offer you, it probably wasn't a very good story/movie/book.

To me, it's more about the journey than the destination. I didn't care a whit whether K ended up being the chosen one or not being the chosen one. I was much more riveted by his personal character arc about finding meaning and love in his genetically engineered (un)life.
 

number11

Member
There's not enough big budget non action sci fi movies out there.. i guess this is why. Hopefully this doesn't affect Dune.
 

Kadayi

Banned
Honestly, unless you've got some otherworldly level of home cinema going on passing up seeing this on the big screen is a madness.

I don't get it. Blade Runner is a cult, trailers were good, reviews were pretty good... what happened? Do people really hate sci-fi?

The Studio needed to pimp the original final cut out via Amazon Prime and Netflix for the casual audience. A lot of people have either not seen the original, or it was years ago. Doing that would have likely benefited them.
 

mjp2417

Banned
I don't get it. Blade Runner is a cult, trailers were good, reviews were pretty good... what happened? Do people really hate sci-fi?

Similar phenomenon to the Twin Peaks revival this year. The group of critics and fans carrying the torch for it are smaller and more self-selecting than their online visibility would suggest.
 

Kieli

Member
You are part of the problem

As someone who loved this movie, I don't think he's wrong. A lot of people are simply not up for what this movie is trying to offer.

The superhero, action-packed movies make bank year over year because that's what audiences want. Which is fine. They want what they want.

I'm just happy this movie was made and that I could experience it.
 
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