10 Movies That Caused A Public Backlash
3. The Great Wall (2016)
When this film was released towards the tail end of 2016 in China and early 2017 in the US, the resounding opinion of both audiences and critics was lukewarm to say the least. An epic adventure involving battles with monsters, the Great Wall of China (as could be expected by the name) and starring Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal as a pair of European mercenaries who have travelled to the Far East, the concept, the execution and the overall feel of the movie were not well-received.
The main backlash here was that the two men who could be viewed as "heroes" were both European and critics were quick to accuse the film not only of "whitewashing" but also of pandering to the "white saviour" trope that is less-seen and accepted nowadays than it maybe once was.
The Chinese critical community were just as harsh on the film as the Western audiences and when all was said and done, despite it making more than its budget, once the total costs of advertising and so on were considered it lost an estimated $75 million.
How much of this can be attributed to the backlash it received is open to debate.