The original did not make $30 million domestically, and really never developed much of a following, and that was 5 years ago, plus any real solo box-office appeal Jason Statham had has dwindled to nothing.
I predict this one to open to around $10 million or less its opening weekend and probably wind up making less than the first film.
Go teach those Lionsgate fellas about accounting, cause it looks like they don't know what they're doing.
shareYea it's a shame what's happened to him. He should stick with supporting roles like in SPY until he gets a better lead role.
What's missing in movies is same as in society: a good sense of work ethic and living up to ideals.
I wouldn't say Statham's career has dwindled to nothing. His last theatrical release (Fast and Furious 7) put him in a big role for the highest grossing film ever. That's certainly put him on many people's radar.
shareStatham was also in Spy last year, and that was a hit at the box office.
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I liked the first one, but it does baffle me that if that flopped, then gets a reasonable budget sequel, whereas Dredd can't, and that has an amazing following now despite the studio screwing with the marketing for it and no one seeing it at the cinema.
There is hope yet then.
The first movie had $36m production cost at around $76m worldwide, which is just cinema, not streaming and not dvd/bluray.
If you read between the lines, this movie crossed 100m after 2-3 years, which is impressive on a $36m cost.
So its absolutely clear why this is coming back. There are movies who went into the green after 5 years that still got sequels. Movie companies rarely pay taxes, because they always spend their money again into more movies. They keep the money circulating and rather shooting something (that can make money on a +20 year scale easily) than just throwing it out of the window.
Plus Jessica Alba looks more mature and fit in this movie, which I found quite hot in the trailer. This alone will justify the admission to the ticket ;)
This movie looks to have little to do with the first movie. I think they decided to revamp the Mechanic brand to be Statham's action franchise, rather than invent something new. I bet he makes a bunch of these moving forward.
"I said no camels, that's five camels, can't you count?"
It seems like an odd choice for a sequel, but it appears that this one doesn't have that much to do with the first movie. Even then, it will likely flop. The late-summer release date isn't very promising, and nobody was really asking for this. Although Don't Breathe, the horror movie coming out the same day, could possibly be successful. The trailer looks very well-made and intense and it got pretty good reviews from SXSW.
share