The Great Wall Crumbles Down at the Box Office
David Gelmini
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It’s never easy to report on a film failing at the box office because I always hate to see hard work and dedication resulting in people losing money. But that’s exactly what’s happening with The Great Wall, which The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed will lose around $75 million.
Legendary Entertainment, China Film Group, and Le Vision Pictures will bear the brunt of this loss, with Universal, who funded around 25% of the overall budget, losing around $10 million.
In China The Great Wall earned a huge $170,873,575 (thanks, Box Office Mojo). Director Zhang Yimou, who previously helmed such films as Curse of the Golden Flower and The Flowers of War, is a pretty huge name in China, which helped it do well over there, but overseas it was essentially a flop. The US gross sits at only $36,572,815, whilst in other countries it didn’t fare much better, with the next highest territory being Russia, where it took $9,537,474. With a production budget of $150 million plus marketing costs, its current worldwide gross of $302,772,815 (it’s expected to end its run with $320) officially makes The Great Wall a box office bomb.
Its financial failure has also cast the possibility of future Chinese/US co-productions into doubt because even the presence of an A-lister like Matt Damon didn’t prevent The Great Wall from being a bomb. The negative reviews were also a key factor in why it tanked in the US, although THR’s article ends with financial analyst Eric Handler predicting that one day Hollywood will discover the right formula to make Chinese co-productions become big hits, so there is yet hope I suppose.
Categorized:News
