Blade Runner 2049 has earned critical praise, but struggled to find an audience on its opening night. The film brought in only $12.7 million domestically on Friday, with an estimated weekend performance in the mid to low $30 million range.
This is far below what the film was expected to bring in. “Industry expectations are for a $100 million debut globally, with approximately 50 percent of that coming from the domestic opening as industry forecasts range from $45-55 million,” Box Office Mojo reported.
Good word of mouth could help the film build as time goes on, and there’s a slight possibility Blade Runner 2049 could find an audience internationally, but it’s likely things will remain bleak at American theaters for the near future.
The original Blade Runner was also seen as a box office failure, bringing in only $32.8 million during its initial run. It took audiences and critics years to warm up to the film, and its visual influence on science fiction and video games always outstripped the size of its audience. While most people know Blade Runner, far fewer ever paid to see it.
Updating a film that’s seen as a masterpiece by aging fans while stressing mystery and secrecy during promotion was a risky strategy. Blade Runner 2049’s trailers don’t give many clues to its plot, nor do they discuss the philosophical questions of the original. There’s no hook for modern audiences, outside of being a sequel for a movie your parents might have liked.
The film’s nature makes it hard to even talk about. “It’s impossible to discuss any of the plot without giving away far too much,” our review stated. “There’s a spoiler tucked into every conversation, poking out from every angle.” While it’s a film that looks amazing on a big screen, Blade Runner 2049’s nearly three hour running time and brooding pace may have turned off a mainstream audience. It’s also rated R, which limits the ability of younger audience to watch at all all.
All that being said, we blame Jared Leto.
Comments
shame it was a good movie
By StarkReality on 10.08.17 9:31am
It was an "ok" movie.
By Assmar on 10.08.17 10:53pm
It was a "great" movie.
By Fkeefe4th on 10.09.17 8:53am
I really want to see it, but my wife and I hardly go the movies any more. Tough when you have kids. Shame, I love the original and want to see this one do well.
Hoping to make it to this in the next week or so if we can get a babysitter.
By Koala_of_Doom on 10.08.17 9:35am
Def. going to see this. But alas people are idiots who prefer a new Sandler movie
By Menage on 10.08.17 9:44am
It’s sad really. The new Blade Runner is fantastic, but you already know its going to bring in a lot less than The Hangover: Part 12: Moscow Mayhem or any other shit movie like that.
To each his own of course, but 2049 really felt like a unique film to me.
By Burning_Cactus on 10.08.17 9:59am
Im not worried. This will probably make enough money worldwide and of digital/br. But yeah, screw the lowest common denominator. Now Im buying 2 tickets just to spite them:D
By Menage on 10.08.17 10:02am
I understand what you’re saying but a new Sandler movie? C’mon now, I think folks share the same opinion on that one
By Fro-zen on 10.08.17 9:28pm
Have you seen how much money his movies make?
By Its me the Bman on 10.09.17 11:44am
I think he gets flak for a lot of wrong reasons. He still makes decently entertaining movies, you just have to turn off the reasoning/logic skills.
By rockykoston on 10.09.17 11:50am
Menage, Pixels tool a quarter billion at the box office. I don’t understand people.
By Richard Burns on 10.09.17 7:47am
Because the film industry is built on passable movies. Passable movies are the "sliced bread" of the film industry. People go to the movies to "have a good time".
Movies like Bladerunner are the exception to the rule, they always have been.
By Redd88 on 10.09.17 10:42am
Pixels did have an interesting concept though.
By Fro-zen on 10.09.17 7:41pm
eh, so people wont go see the film unless they already know loads about the plot. I dont get it.
Cinema is as much about discovery as anything else, whats wrong with some people.
By eminusx on 10.08.17 10:37am
The trailer kind of made it look like a generic action movie. Spoiler; it wasn’t. Thankfully.
By HRDSalami654 on 10.09.17 12:12am
Yeah. I was happily surprised when I found out it wasn’t. Imagine how some must be disappointed though if they’ve never seen the original and was hoping for an action movie.
I was sure that I’d still appreciate it, even if it was nothing like the original. And then it’s almost exactly like it!
By Father Jack on 10.09.17 9:47am
Well, really it’s a lot of money to go to the movies nowadays, so to ask someone to fork over for something they’re not familiar with (BR) and can’t learn anything about (limited marketing info) is a big ask.
I thought it was amazing. What’s ALSO amazing is my Moviepass!
By Booyotch on 10.09.17 6:23am
It is a nice addition to the story line of the original. But so often these re releases are cash grabs that are not respectful of the original and thus alienate the fans. Those remakes that were not needed aka retelling the same story when the original is still great making it a cheap knock off. Or those titles that try to make something of a great brand while giving the middle finger to the people that made the brand successful and trying to cater to a different audience.
By Konchu on 10.09.17 8:56am
That’s not really too surprising, considering it’s a sequel to a 35-year-old cult classic with so many different editions, if you ever want to have a conversation about it with someone, you have to figure out what version(s) of it they’ve seen first. And even then, Blade Runner is one of those properties that’s still mostly popular with actual nerds — people super into film and sci-fi — without any general appeal to audiences.
Plus, all of the promotional material featuring Harrison Ford in an ordinary gray t-shirt probably didn’t help. The first film had some great costume designs, but here Harrison Ford looks like he was buying groceries and didn’t want to change.
By MattimusPrime on 10.08.17 10:38am
It’d be really funny if the BluRay for the new film had a bonus audio track of Ryan Gosling doing narration.
By JohnGreenArt on 10.08.17 11:48am
I tend to get bored when movies run that long (e.g. The Revenant), but in this case I didn’t even notice.
It’s worth seeing on the big screen too, because it’s a visually pleasing movie.
By AmiralPatate on 10.08.17 10:53am
I nearly fell asleep during it.
By Assmar on 10.08.17 10:54pm
The first quarter of the movie is pretty slow, but once you get through that it gets better. I enjoyed the whole thing, but I’m a sucker for trans humanist plots so it was interesting all of the way through. I could definitely see why not everybody would hang on at the beginning.
By HRDSalami654 on 10.09.17 12:14am
The original Blade Runner is one of my favorite movies, but it’s put me to sleep more than a handful of times.
It’s like a lullaby. Beautiful and melodic. Unsettling (e.g. "when the bow breaks, the cradle will fall") yet still soothing.
By JohnGreenArt on 10.09.17 10:02am
I was a big fan of the original – this didn’t connect for me.
By JRock3x8 on 10.08.17 1:37pm