10 Epic Movie Trailers That Set The Bar Too High
3. Mortal Engines
After washing his hands of the ill-fated Hobbit trilogy, many a film-goer wondered where Peter Jackson would go next. The answer appeared to be Mortal Engines, an adaptation of Phillip Reeve's 2001 novel.
Once marketing started, there was some anticipation being built at first. In terms of sheer scale, Mortal Engines had brilliant potential. Roaming cities that swallow up smaller ones in their pursuit of control over populations and resources? Surely you'd think it could become a great blockbuster on par with Jackson's magnum opus.
The trailers painted it as such, showing off the size of the cities and dazzling confrontations unfolding by air and land. It was ripe with intrigue; how are these settlements ran? How do they clash with others? Much like the Lord of The Rings before it, this was a world ripe for exploration.
Unfortunately, it was not to be. Reviews and reactions were ultimately mediocre, citing an incredibly weak plot and characters that you couldn't get invested in.
Losing 174 million dollars for the studio, it stands as the worst loss in cinematic history, ranking alongside John Carter and other financial failures. Despite sticking Peter Jackson's name on the box and a few choice actors like Hugo Weaving, Mortal Engines failed to follow through on both its premise and expectations laid out in the marketing material.