8 Times Audiences Were Blamed For Movies That Failed
1. Apparently, The Heartbreak Kid Flopped Because Everyone Was At Home Playing Halo
The amount of quality movies, TV shows and video games that are competing for our free time is truly insane. Without a time machine, there's absolutely no way any of us can actually keep up with all the things we want to play, watch and read.
Back in 2007, the volume of content wasn't nearly as high as it is today, but with online gaming and YouTube quickly taking off, everyone had to start getting a little more selective with their leisure time. As a result, some movies suffered, and Ben Stiller's The Heartbreak Kid was one of them.
The movie opened on 5 October, and was expected to gross somewhere in the region of $20 million - $25 million in its first few days. However, it only managed $14 million. Even worse, that whole weekend was a lousy time at the box-office, with only $80 million in ticket sales overall - which, at the time, was the worst October weekend since 1999. So why the slump?
Well, bizarrely, many film executives blamed this lacklustre weekend on Microsoft's Halo 3. The game launched just days before The Heartbreak Kid opened, shattering sales records in the process, and consequently, the movie industry was convinced that people were at home playing the game, rather than visiting their local cinema.
Or, here's an alternate take: maybe it's because there was nothing good to watch?
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Enjoyed being blamed for these underwhelming movie performances? Shake your fist angrily in the comments section below!