Lost in the madness that is Christmas movie season, Peter Jackson’s “Mortal Engines” seems to be the first major casualty of the holiday. The sci-fi/fantasy film, based on the popular novel series of the same name, debuted this past weekend and was set to be a major blockbuster to compete with the likes of “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” “Aquaman,” “Mary Poppins Returns,” and “Bumblebee.” Instead, the film has cratered and will end up losing well over $100 million.
Before we break down how “Mortal Engines” completely broke down at the box office, let’s take a brief moment to talk about the hype leading up to the film. Or more appropriately, the lack thereof. You see, even though Peter Jackson isn’t the director of the film, relegated to co-writer and producer, “Mortal Engines” is very much his baby. Having secured the rights to make the film almost a decade ago, the filmmaker was looking for the right time to devote his talent to the project. However, after “The Hobbit,” Jackson wanted to take a break from directing, and he gave the reins to the film to his protégé, Christian Rivers to helm.
That didn’t mean that Jackson stayed on the sidelines. For all intents and purposes, even though Rivers (who worked under the filmmaker for years) has his name on the director’s chair, this is a Peter Jackson film. Universal was hoping that putting Jackson front-and-center during the marketing campaign, fans of “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” would line up in droves to see what the visionary filmmaker had up his sleeve this time around. Unfortunately, using “Peter Jackson” on every piece of marketing wasn’t enough, and the film is destined to become one of the biggest bombs of 2018.
This past weekend, “Mortal Engines” made a dismal $7.5 million domestically, for a worldwide total of just over $42 million. Now, those numbers wouldn’t be entirely damning (though they’re bad no matter how you look at it) if it wasn’t for the audience and critical reaction to the film, indicating that word-of-mouth just won’t be there. The film has been ravaged by critics, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 28%. Audiences didn’t warm up to it either, with a CinemaScore of B- (which effectively means that no one will recommend it).
With a price tag of $100 million (though Deadline reports that it’s well over $110 million) and marketing costs accounting for tens of millions more, “Mortal Engines” would have to make upwards of $300 million to even remotely think of profitability. Sadly, reports claim the film will be lucky to reach $120 million, with some saying that $100 million is more likely.
Thus, we’re left with yet another new sci-fi/fantasy franchise that has floundered at the box office, after “Jupiter Ascending” and most recently, “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” both failed to ignite fan interest.
Sadly, even though film fans, especially genre fans, seem to talk a lot about wanting original ideas, it doesn’t look like they’re supporting them at the box office. Or you know, bad movies won’t make any money. And in the case of “Mortal Engines,” it appears that a mixture of bad marketing, a bad film, and competition has sealed its fate.