Why Blade Runner 2049 Flopped So Hard
1. It
In order to recoup some of that budget - which in itself screams a certain type of intent - Blade Runner 2049 needed to be THE event movie of the late Summer/Autumn period. It needed to be THE film audiences came out for - even those who don't necessarily go to cinemas once a week to see the big releases.
The studios needed it to be enough of a draw to overshadow everything else in cinemas, and while the immediate competition wasn't particularly difficult to best, the film - rather unfortunately - was overshadowed itself by the appeal of Warner Bros' other big release - It.
It became the event movie of the period - if not the year (Star Wars might have something to say about it) - and it's proximity to the release of Blade Runner 2049 killed some of the box office haul from less frequent cinema-goers it might otherwise have been able to count on.