Dredd 3D: 5 Reasons Why It Flopped At The Box Office

Theory 2: It's Another Comic-Book Movie/It's An Obscure Hero

The sheer weight of comic-book adaptations hitting cinema screens presented an undeniable problem for Dredd. The current cycle of superhero movies has thrown up so many characters and concepts that it€™s easy to imagine audience fatigue, at least when it comes to this genre. Unfamiliarity with the character would invariably draw unfavourable comparisons - some people dismissed the movie as a cheap Batman knockoff thanks to misreading the apparent the dark vigilante feel of the trailers. Efforts to educate the masses to the unique properties of a property hadn€™t worked earlier in the year for John Carter or Green Lantern - and it sure as hell didn't work for Dredd. Then there's the matter of that uniform. And although the gritty redesign of the original outfit worked perfectly for the film (and won fan approval), word is that US audiences didn't like that they never got to see the main guy's face - some were disappointed at the lack of reveal - which of course misses the fact that we're not supposed to see his face, but that's beside the point. With the success of The Avengers, the bar was raised for all comic book adaptations - at least, those made in that mould. Dredd chose to be different and eschew it's comic trappings, presenting a very grounded, CGI-lite interpretation of the source material. So it's a bitter irony that, for a film trying to not be a comic book movie, it may have ended up being dismissed as one anyway.
Contributor
Contributor

Ian Terry is a designer, writer and artist living somewhere in the leafy outskirts of North London. He'd previously worked in the games business, from humble 8-bit beginnings on to PC and console titles. Ian is the author of two novels and is currently employed as a writer for the designer menswear industry. Since the age of ten, he's been strangely preoccupied with the movies and enjoys writing about them.