hanshotfirst1138

You'd think no matter how much "creative accounting" you did, bankruptcy would eventually catch up with the studio?

Why So Blu?

Not when franchises like FF clear close to or over a billion in box office every other year. Those profits create a buffer in case stuff like 47 Ronin happens.

DJariya

Rented the DVD for this yesterday and actually it really wasn't that bad as the RT score and critics reviews made it out to be.

I think possibly the fantasy elements and Keanu Reeves being a little too old to play the "Kai" characters were deterrents IMO. I think this would have worked much better if Universal made it a straight forward samurai picture like The Last Samurai and made it R rated. The fantasy elements were kind of corny. There were a few scenes that were definitely toned down to make it PG-13. Reeves was definitely a supporting character, but I know Universal couldn't sell this movie without a known American lead.

Overall, it was a pretty interesting story and I thought it worked. The costume and set designs were solid turning the UK into feudal Japan.

Not sure if I would own this or see it again anytime soon, but it was a very well made picture despite some flaws.

GatorDeb

I thought Man of Tai Chi was awesome and this was terrible

Hiro11

I discovered today that this film is now officially the biggest bomb in Hollywood history. They're currently estimating that it lost $155MM. How they managed to spend $225MM on this thing is an interesting question...

To put this in perspective, this is over double the amount that the notorious bomb The Postman lost. It lost at least $30MM more than The Lone Ranger.

I haven't seen the movie.

RichC2

It'll be more and more common. The movie grossed $151m on a $175m budget, which doesn't include advertising, prints, etc;

So definitely a dud.

Lone Ranger pulled $260.5m on a $215m budget. So at least it surpassed its budget.

Why So Blu?

It doesn't really matter if it was the biggest bomb of all time. Universal began declaring losses on it like 2 years ago and they have been in the green for sometime now. They have had big budget flicks make money for them that have padded the losses they took on 47 Ronin.

All is well.

RichC2

Universal Exec: "Make whatever you want, we have Fast and Furious money."

Why So Blu?

Pretty much.

Hiro11

Yeah, clearly studios are betting ever bigger dollars on a smaller number of tentpoles. This seems risky to me. Note that of the 50 biggest bombs of all time, 25 were released in the last 10. 5 of the top 6 biggest bombs of all time were released in the past 3 years, that's crazy.

RocShemp

I really enjoyed this flick. Honestly, had you taken the same exact movie and done it shot for shot as a Japanese cartoon, most people would have eaten it up as if it were the greatest thing ever. It's not great by any means but it's not bad either. I found it quite entertaining. My only gripe is that I feel they played it a bit "safe" with the fantasy elements and there should have been a I wish they'd release an extended cut and/or the original cut that put less emphasis on Keanu. He didn't take attention away from Hiroyuki Sanada (the real protagonist in my eyes) but it would have been interesting to see how the feature was originally envisioned.

By the way, what was the point of marketing the tattoo guy so much (he's even on the poster and BD cover) when he appears for 5 seconds and doesn't even fight (despite what's shown in the trailer)?

james2025a

I liked the movie. It did what it was supposed to do. I can see why a movie like this crashed and burned at the box office. I believe it got a December release and that seems all wrong for this type of movie. Better to have put it in February or March when not much is coming out.

Its the closest thing i guess so far to a live action Ninja Scroll movie. I do agree with the poster that says the ending should have been different with the giant samurai guy. Felt cheated a little there.

gmanca

Yeah this movie deserved a far better fate than it got in the theaters. Sometimes a movie can exist just to present an idea, building a simple yet functional basis of a story and develop just enough of a select few of characters to get from Point A to Point B. I respect the fact that it is not cookie-cutter in its premise and that the film was not overtly a Keenu Reeves film but shared the story with Hiroyuki Sanada.

I look forward to see what Carl Rinsch does next.

robin2099

Watched this since it's on HBO now. And it wasn't as bad as people were making it out to be. I actually thought it was a pretty entertaining movie. It's not great and I have no desire to watch it again but I did enjoy it overall. Wasn't a fan of the mystical elements though and thought it would have worked better as a straight up samurai movie instead of coming off like a Conan/Pirates hybrid. Anyway I would probably give it about a 3/5. It's nowhere near as bad as people were saying it was.