175 million dollars lost: this science fiction film was a huge flop at the cinema

With less than $100 million in global box office revenue, this science fiction film, released in 2018, was a huge flop at the cinema, and thus caused its production studio to lose millions of dollars.

After the enormous success of the trilogy The HobbitPeter Jackson was in charge of producing and writing the script for another blockbuster, Mortal Enginesto see on Netflix. Adapted from the novel of the same name by Philip Reeve, the science fiction film takes place hundreds of years after Earth is destroyed following a blitzkrieg that ravaged it in just sixty minutes. Humanity has reorganized itself, but inequalities have increased. Gigantic mobile and predatory cities roam Europe and try to attack smaller units which are also capable of moving. Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar) is one of the inhabitants of these small towns, the Bavarian Salzhaken. This is continued by the gigantic and very rich city of London, which is closely interested in the ore it produces.

Mortal Engines : the science fiction film is one of the biggest flops in cinema

Released in 2018, the science fiction film was a real failure at the box office. It only collected 83 million dollars in revenue worldwide, including only 15 million on American soil, for a production budget estimated at $100 million. Several American media, including Deadlineestimated losses of $175 million for the studio, becoming one of the lowest-grossing films of all time.

Mortal Engines : a feature film directed by Peter Jackson’s faithful accomplice

If Mortal Engines has long been presented as Peter Jackson’s new cinematographic project, this would not be the case since the New Zealand filmmaker, exhausted by the filming of the trilogy of Hobbit, entrusted the production of the blockbuster to one of his closest collaborators, Christian Rivers. “Christian has worked with us for 25 years. He started by drawing our storyboards. Then on The Hobbit, he directed a lot of second unit scenes“, he explained. “He was preparing for his first film and since I didn’t want anyone else to do Mortal Engines, I offered it to him. After 25 years, it was normal that we helped him make his first film. Once The Hobbit was finished, when I knew that Mortal Engines would be our next project, I said to myself that it would be perfect for him“.

Article written in collaboration with 6Médias