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.

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Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.