Access Media Claims 'The Running Man' Bombed At The Box Office Due To Skydance Purchasing Paramount
The access media is blaming The Running Man’s box office bomb on the purchase of Paramount by Skydance and David Ellison.
Edgar Wright’s remake of the 1980s film grossed $16.4 million at domestic theaters and added another $11.1 million internationally for a global total of just $27.6 million. The film had a production budget of around $110 million which means it needed to gross between $275 million and $330 million to break even.
For comparison, the original 1987 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger grossed $8.1 million domestically, but if you adjust for inflation that comes to around $23.2 million.
As for why the film bombed in its opening weekend, Anthony D’Alessandro at Deadline put the blame on David Ellison’s purchase of Paramount. He claimed, “Running Man‘s fumbling at the B.O. stemmed largely from the administration change-over from the old guard to the new under David Ellison at Paramount.”
Additionally, he added, “Running Man also suffered a blow when there was a shake-up in the motion picture marketing department with the exit of Global Distribution and Marketing Boss Marc Weinstock earlier this fall as the studio waited for the arrival of the new department head Josh Goldstine.”
He also claimed that “marketing dollars were cut” after the film was projected to only gross $20 million when it arrived on tracking three weeks ago.
While D’Alessandro is blaming Skydance’s purchase of Paramount and the changes happening at the company, it’s likely the film just wasn’t that good and the marketing for it just didn’t appeal to moviegoers.
As for the film’s quality, reviewer Jeremy Jahns described it as forgettable and “Dollar Store Minority Report.”
He also said, “This movie has pacing issues and it is not the only thing plaguing it. This movie does have some interesting themes it’s going for here, but when you get to the point, you know it’s going to go to: the big super media corporation isn’t forthcoming. They’re really shady, fabricating lies, throwing it out there in the name of controlling the masses. Maybe it feels old because a lot of movies have done that at this point. Maybe it feels old because we’re living through it at this point.”
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The remake no one asked for. Also, some of us want as little association with Stephen King as is possible.
It bombed because the original movie is much more fun and over the top. It also featured Lynne Marie Stewart and Lin Shaye in small roles, which was fun. Lynne was most recently Charlie's mom on It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, and Lin was Mary's crazy, overtanned neighbor in There's Something About Mary and is also in the Insidious movies. And Mick Fleetwood was the old man leader of the resistance, even though he was only 40 years old at the time and continued drumming for Fleetwood Mac for at least 30 more years.