10 Most Divisive Movies Of 2017

7. Blade Runner 2049

Blade Runner 2049
Warner Bros.

Everyone on the internet seemed to agree that Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049 was nothing short of a masterpiece.

The critics loved it, audience ratings on IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic were glowing across the board, and by all accounts, this was superior to the 1982 original, and yet - general moviegoers just did not like it. At all.

Domestically, the film opened well below expectations with just $32 million in its opening weekend and had vanished from the top five before you could say "Justice League", the sequel lacking the legs it would have needed to make it a financial success.

Ultimately - and despite being expected to make $300 million with ease - Blade Runner 2049 failed to crack $260 million worldwide, evidence that the majority of audiences simply had no interest in revisiting this universe.

Looking back, Blade Runner 2049 is a cautionary tale depicting the dangers of artistic integrity over mainstream appeal - you can't always have it both ways, and you cannot expect a slow, mindful, nearly three-hour thriller to turn a nice profit on a $150 million budget.

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!