Posted on 03/01/2020 5:28:20 PM PST by EdnaMode
Harrison Ford’s canine adventure “The Call of the Wild” is shaping up to be the latest box office dud for the Disney-owned 20th Century.
The film, based on Jack London’s best-selling novel, has made $45 million in the U.S. and $79 million globally after two weeks in theaters. That wouldn’t be a bad result, had “The Call of the Wild” cost a moderate amount to make and market. However, it carries a price tag above $125 million, meaning the film needs to make between $250 million and $275 million to break even, according to sources close to the production and rival studio executives. Given the unlikeliness that it’ll reach those ticket sales, “The Call of the Wild” is expected to lose around $50 million. TSG co-financed the film, which will help mitigate damages for Disney.
After Disney broke box office records last year with billion-dollar blockbusters like “Avengers: Endgame,” “The Lion King” and “Captain Marvel,” the studio is well positioned to withstand a hit or two. Since formally acquiring 20th Century Fox last year, Disney has jettisoned off a string of box office misfires. Most notably, the company blamed much of its $170 million quarterly write-down in August on “X-Men” spin-off “Dark Phoenix,” a film that cost $200 million and tapped out with $250 million globally. “Underwater” with Kristen Stewart, buddy comedy “Stuber” and the animated “Spies in Disguise” were also theatrical disappointments.
“The Call of the Wild” received mixed reviews from critics, though audiences seemed to like it more and gave it an “A-” CinemaScore. The film debuted to $24.8 million last weekend, ahead of expectations. Box office analysts believe it benefitted as Ford’s first major on-screen film role in years. “The Call of the Wild” declined 46% in its sophomore outing and brought in $13.3 million in North America, an average result for a family film. Internationally, “The Call of the Wild” has made $33 million from 50 foreign markets, representing 91% of its overseas footprint. However, Coronavirus has closed theaters in China, Italy and Korea, which could hinder ticket sales abroad.
“The Call of the Wild” was written by Michael Green (“Logan,” “Blade Runner 2049”) and directed by Chris Sanders. It follows a man (Ford) who crosses paths with a dog named Buck, who was captured from his California home and sold to freight haulers.
Ford’s stupid libtard mouth helped tank this movie.
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Yup
Maybe they can make it up in China!
What the hell is it about, exactly? I heard the “This Land” commie song in the preview. Put me off tremendously.
Wasn’t Jack London a socialist?
“Sorry Harrison, you lost me when you got political.”
Yep, these people are idiots. I made a mental note to skip the next Indiana Jones movie.
Always assume artistes are until proven otherwise.
That was at best a $10 to $15 Million Dollar picture.
A nature film for the Blade Runner crowd.
A shame, because "Call Of The Wild" is one of my favorite all time books and I've read it at least a dozen times since I was 10 years old. ("White Fang" ranks up pretty high as well.)
Dogs were CGI rendered and that didn't bother me too much, except I was a little disappointed that Buck was rendered as sort of a Saint Benard. In my mind, Buck will always be a husky breed. Rendering of Spitz was much better.
Movie didn't really follow the book as much as I liked. Spoiler alerts: The Indians (Native Americans) at the end were completely eliminated in the movie. Also, François was portrayed by a woman (Cara Gee) and Perrault by a black man (Omar Sy). Now I think both Cara and Omar did an excellent job in the movie but the Hollywood political correctness to cast a woman and a black man in place of a couple of salty, swarthy French Canadians just rubs me the wrong way.
As for Harrison Ford, I didn't even recognize him in the role of John Thornton. Unfortunately, Harrison did a poor job as Thornton was the best character in the book.
Overall, I think the movie is worth seeing but wait for it to show up on Netflix. Not worth paying a theater price.
Hairy Son crashes again.
BOL and this time without his plane.
My wife and I saw it...we enjoyed it. No dope, no sex, no nudity, no horror. a nice family movie.
Compared to the crap playing.
Ford blew it when he went political
Oh well...
He should have starred in “CALL OF THE WRONG RUNWAY”.
Bwahahahahahaha!
I have no respect for Harrison Ford. He’s a climate hypocrite and infected with TDS.
Togo was wonderful, and Willem Dafoe’s chemistry with the pup who played Togo was wonderful. Great, exciting film.
The scenes with the river ice cracking got me every time.
I might go see CoTW at the dollar theater, but HF can FOAD for his comments.
The sooner Hollywood is just a distant memory of how it turned to crap and died, the better.
I miss the Duke.
Read the book. Much better than a movie. White Fang is another great book.
Harrison Ford called President Trump a “son of a bitch” on late night TV a week or two ago, so Ford can go eff himself as far as I’m concerned.
I’m glad his crappy movie bombed at the box office.
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