After a big promotional push over recent weeks, American Ultra flopped at the US box office this past the weekend, grossing just $5.5 million, and the film’s lack of business has alarmed writer Max Landis, who has taken to Twitter to express his views and argue whether original films are “dead”.
SEE ALSO: Read our review of American Ultra here
Coming in sixth on the box office charts as Straight Outta Compton took the top spot again and despite the prescence of Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart, the film certainly hasn’t had the best of starts. It was up against the second weekend of Compton as well as new releases in video-game adaptation reboot Hitman: Agent 47 and horror sequel Sinister 2, and it’s very soft opening has puzzled the screenwriter.
On his official Twitter, Landis said: “So here’s an interesting question: American Ultra finished dead last at the box office, behind even Mission Impossible and Man From Uncle. American Ultra was also beaten by the critically reviled Hitman Agent 47 and Sinister, despite being a better reviewed film than either, which leads me to a bit of a conundrum: Why? American Ultra had good ads, big stars, a fun idea, and honestly, it’s a good movie. Certainly better, in the internet’s opinion, than other things released the same day. If you saw it, you probably didn’t hate it, so I’m left with an odd thing here, which is that American Ultra lost to a sequel, a sequel reboot, a biopic, a sequel and a reboot. It seems the reviews didn’t even matter, the MOVIE didn’t matter. The argument that can/will be made is: big level original ideas don’t $.”
“For the longest time, my belief was that the 80s/90s were the golden age of movies; you never knew what you were going to get,” he continues. “Am I wrong? Is trying to make original movies in a big way just not a valid career path anymore for anyone but Tarantino and Nolan? That’s the question: Am I wrong? Are original ideas over? I wanted to pose this to the public, because I feel, put lightly, confused. I feel like I learned a lesson, here, but have no idea what it is. I once joked #there’s only so many times people will go see Thor 2. Sorry to be kind of a downer guys. It’s just a little frustrating to see John Cena squash Kevin Steen. Metaphorically.”
What do you think to Landis’ tweets? Is he right, is the original movie dead? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below…
American Ultra is out now in the US and is released this Friday, August 28th in UK cinemas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl-b0ShEsC8
Originally published August 24, 2015. Updated April 13, 2018.
