While the Michael Jackson biopic might be out there breaking records on its opening weekend, it’s been left to a different movie to face the dubious pleasure of becoming one of the biggest box office bombs ever.
Desert Warrior, starring Anthony Mackie, has faced a fraught production period of nearly five years which saw its budget swell to a reported $150million (£111m).
But on after its US opening last Friday, it managed to scrape together just $472,000 (£349,504) – despite being released in over 1,000 American cinemas.
A period epic with Braveheart-level ambitions, co-starring Sir Ben Kingsley, Sharlto Copley and Line of Duty actress Aiysha Hart, Desert Warrior was set in seventh century Arabia and saw Princess Hind (Hart) team up with a legendary bandit (Captain America star Mackie) to confront Emperor Kisra (Kingsley) after he tries to make her his concubine.
The movie would culminate in the historic Battle of Dhu Kar, which Deadline reported has been ‘flatteringly compared’ to the Pelennor Fields confrontation in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
Desert Warrior was also designed to showcase Saudi Arabia’s state-of-the-art facilities after filming there from September 2021 to February 2022, funded by MBC Studios, an offshoot of Saudi’s biggest broadcaster.
It’s the most expensive movie ever produced in the country and now it can sadly lay claim to another distinction following its massive flop upon US release – especially taking into consideration the size of its budget.
Per Collider, its per-theatre average of $483 (£357.48) is lower than that of 2015 films Jem and the Holograms, directed by Wicked’s Jon M. Chu, and Rock the Kasbah, starring Bill Murray and Kate Hudson, two of the lowest-grossing wide releases of all time.
Jem and the Holograms had the fourth worst opening ever for a film screening in more than 2,000 theatres, the worst of 2015 and the worst ever for a film released by a major studio (Universal) – and its per-theatre average was $570 (£421.87).
Determining a box office flop isn’t an exact science, but other exmples of the biggest include The Adventures of Pluto Nash, starring Eddie Murphy, which made only $7.1m (£5.3m) worldwide on a $100m (£74m) budget.
While Desert Warrior is still a fair way off that number, the film is yet to release fully internationally, with the chance that its home country’s audience could buoy it to earn sigificantly more money still.
Desert Warrior was directed and co-written by Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), who quit the production during editing after creative differences (he reportedly wanted a more ‘nuanced’ film), before eventually being brought back.
It also appeared to debut with very little fanfare from producers, or even attention from the press.
The film is currently sitting on a poor 25% from just 16 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, with critic Russ Simmons echoing others by describing it with: ‘Desperately wants to be Lawrence of Arabia, but falls somewhat short.’
Elsewhere it was labelled ‘a bland and vapid action adventure’ and by Screen Rant as ‘a mostly boring, mostly forgettable movie’.
It’s ‘likely to be swept away as quickly as desert sands’ warned The Hollywood Reporter’s Frank Scheck (accurately), while critic Mike Magranaghan wrote: ‘There’s some good stuff in Desert Warrior, but you have to wade through a lot of nonsense to get to it.’
For IndieWire it was ‘gorgeous but oppressively basic’, with David Ehrlich observing: ‘There are camels in this movie that deserve higher billing than much of the human cast.’
The – um, select – audience reactions at this stage have been more positive, clocking in at 62%.
‘Sleeper hit, haven’t seen anything on this movie. I enjoyed a lot,’ wrote one fan. ‘Action is top tier… although more elephant battling would have been nice. Like the story a lot too.’
‘I’m a sucker for a good period piece, and I’ve never seen a movie that takes place in 6th Century Arabia, so for me this was worthwhile,’ added another.
Desert Warrior is out now in the US. It is yet to recieve a UK release date.
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