Ah, the blockbuster. Perhaps the most hit-and-miss ‘genre’ to be found within the film industry, the art of crafting a blockbuster movie is not for the faint of heart. If you get it right, bringing in the well-established names necessary and a storyline that manages to transcend the boundaries of superfluous special effects and lacklustre characterisations, then you may just stumble onto a hit like Star Wars, Indiana Jones or more recently The Avengers. Get it wrong and…well, just ask Battleship, Wrath Of The Titans and The Bourne Legacy how they’ve felt on the matter these past few months.
In this article, I’ll be casting my crystal ball (I did consider a crystal skull, but those tend to flop) over the next couple of years of blockbuster entertainment, looking ahead to ten films brimming with potential that seem doomed to fail nevertheless. Some of the choices included here may begin to prove controversial for the hardened franchise fans among you, but bear with me here, as there’s good reasoning for each flick’s inclusion on the list.
Perhaps you’ll avoid these destined duds, perhaps not. All the same, don’t say we didn’t warn you first…
1. Resident Evil: Retribution
The Release Date:
September 14th, 2012
What It’s Got Going For It:
Retribution heralds as a movie adaptation of one of the best-loved horror shooter video game franchises of all-time, Resident Evil. Though never critically lauded, the previous Resi movies have brought in the bucks over the course of the past decade.
Why It’s Already Doomed:
At some point, the novelty factor of seeing a video game series brought to the big screen (in admittedly unfaithful fashion) has to wear off. Much as the writing team on this blockbuster franchise have tried to sustain their audiences’ excitement through Apocalypse, Extinction and Afterlife, the narratives of these fantasy flicks have been becoming increasingly shallow and desperate for what was once a complex and dark universe. The marketing campaign’s main slogan ‘Evil Goes Global’ is hardly an original tease for audiences either, and what with the big Zach Galifianakis/Will Ferrell comedy The Campaign set to release in the UK within the same month as this, the odds really don’t seem to be in Milla Jovovich’s favour anymore. Had the movie released alongside the new game sequel Resident Evil 6 the next month, maybe it would have been likely to fare better, but I highly doubt it.
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15 Comments
Residet Evil: Retribution will NOT sink. I love the RE films and im going see Retribution on opening night. Besides, 3D movies never flop
Resident Evil: Retribution will not sink! Whoever wrote this artice is an idiot. It’s in 3D, and there is a huge fan base behind. Only an idiot would think that this film would flop.
Retribution has a way to large fanbase to flop. It will most surely make it’s budget back! But then if it will be the retribution of the series critically we will see, knowing Andersson it probably won’t.
Every Resident Evil film has made even more than its predeccessor. Just becauase you don’t like the series doesn’t mean it’ll flop. I love the movies, but I can still acknowledge that they’re crap, and they’re story telling is shallow and repetitive. Silent Hill, on the other hand, will flop. The first movie didn’t do that well and it’s been enough years to make people forget about the first film. Taken 2 could go either way.
Resident evil Retribution vai ser um grande sucesso e vai calar a boca de alguns idiotas vagabundos do caraio que não sabem o que falão
taken 2 lol?
its going to be amazing and successful
Successful? Perhaps. Amazing? I’d put that up to debate- personally, I thought the first one was no masterpiece.
You are already comparing films that are not even finished to movies that have nothing to do with it. Hanzel & Gretel to Snow White?? What because they are both fairy tales? that is not fair to your readers. RE will NOT flop. You need to do your research buddy, those movies do not flop. And you actually think that Marvel will risk making a movie that could flop?? Sure it’s a tough plot to swallow, but it will be fine.
Also you didn’t even pick on the movies that are floundering before they plug in the cameras. Like Robocop, an Smurfs 2. Well writen but complete tribble of baby droll.
I’ve compared Hansel & Gretel: Witch-Hunters to Snow White & The Huntsman as they are both ‘gritty’ takes on fairy tales which use titles we wouldn’t necessarily expect for those stories, in order to try and garner more sales. Franchises like Resident Evil don’t always stay successful, once people start to realise they’re old hat things start to change. Marvel have made Daredevil- that is all on that front, Sucker Punch and The Last Airbender were tough to swallow and they flopped big time. Robocop has some classic fanboy appeal to get it sales.
Finally, Smurfs 2- you’re really going to try and tell me that will flop? I could have said that, were it not for all the Shrek films, all the Ice Age films and the first Smurfs film all performing really well for kids.
AND HUNGER GAMES!!???? You must be kidding. Good or bad that flick is going to sell seats to millions. You really need to go back to the drawing boared my friend. maybe watch the box office returns instead of listening to your film class teacher (failed actor)
My point with The Hunger Games is that people are already marking The Hobbit (multi-part film) down for being split up, who’s to say that in THREE YEARS time- apologies if I’m thinking ahead to a time where audiences could have changed their preferences- multi-part films will still sell well?
I could not disagree more about resident evil and wolverine more. Tom although some observations were dead on others seemed more like attempts to illicit responses which you did succeed in doing.
G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra, while a terrible film, was a financial success, especially internationally (believe it or not), so saying “G.I. Flop once more” is not accurate. Plus, if it wasn’t financially successful, they wouldn’t have bothered with a sequel, beloved toy franchise or no. Just a friendly suggestion to check out boxofficemojo.com for this info. before posting an article!
Do you even visit boxofficemojo? Most of these movies will be beyond financial successes. I agree with everyone else on here that you probably don’t know much of what you’re talking about and shouldn’t be the one to have written this article. I know that seems harsh but I mean that in a constructive criticism way.
And again, I agree with them on RE. I hate the movies and think it needs to be more truthful to the games too, but each one makes more money than the last and this new one has quite the buzz as well. The one thing you’re also wrong about is people thinking it’ll be an old hat. One thing the RE films have shown me, even though I dislike them, is each one is drastically different. 1 – Underground lab, 2 – chaos in a city, 3 – desert apocalypse, 4 – one-setting creature-feature and 5 – appears to have a very epic scope that looks like it’ll pretty much cover EVERYTHING.
Better luck next time with these predictions.
Hi ‘The Dude’, just to address your ‘constructive’ comments here, boxofficemojo isn’t a site I visit regularly as it seems to provide a view of US sales moreso than it does the UK (where I am based). I would be totally willing to say that I’m wrong on some sales claims were it not for the fact that other articles I’ve read on Resident Evil and G.I. Joe for example on numerous occasions have dubbed their overall box office faring as average at best.
I knew from the outset that a good handful of these predictions weren’t going to go down well as people were solely basing their ideas here on what’s happened in the past. The film industry is constantly shifting, however, and I believe what now seems to be ‘all talk and no action’ will start to change in years to come as viewers shift in the way they approach identikit sequels. Unless you’re claiming to be able to see the future (at no such point do I attempt to do this, the use of the word ‘potential’ before duds should make that clear), to dismiss predictions on the basis that you believe the industry and its sequel appeal will not change in years to come is petty.