Despite overwhelming critical praise, Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi sequel “Blade Runner 2049” is considered a flop in financial terms after earning just $74 million at the North American box office. Now, the Quebec director is opening up about disappointing ticket sales in the film’s first two weeks of release.
“As a filmmaker, I’m not arrogant,” Villeneuve says, speaking with Vulture about the Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling epic. “People put a lot of money in the movie to allow me to make something like ‘Blade Runner’. They trusted me, and they gave me a lot of freedom, and they are friends. So of course I want the movie to be a success at the end of the day. It’s a long journey, but I want them not to lose money.”
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The sequel to the 1982 cult film “Blade Runner” cost an estimated $300 million to make, including extensive marketing costs. The movie is being buoyed by international ticket sales, driving the worldwide box office total to just over $194 million to date. Last year, Villeneuve’s alien drama “Arrival” earned over $100 million, making more than its reported $47 million budget and scooping up several Oscar nominations and one win.
Originally pegged to be one of the year’s biggest hits, Warner Bros., the studio behind the film, admitted the audience reach was “narrower” than anticipated and skewed mostly to older males. Though Warner Bros. stands by Villeneuve’s vision and are hoping for word-of-mouth sales, the film’s lengthy running time of 2 hours and 43 minutes likely also contributed to slow ticket sales.
While “It” may have toppled box office records, “Blade Runner 2049” is the latest in a string of big budget box office disappointments this year that saw promising summer flicks including “Alien: Covenant”, “The Mummy”, “Baywatch”, “King Arthur” and “Transformers: The Last Knight” all under-perform as domestic earnings at cinemas reached its lowest point in 10 years.
