‘Hercules’ Can’t Compete With ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ At The Box Office
Hercules, the latest action-packed movie starring Dwayne Johnson, is seriously losing the battle for your bucks at the box office.
After getting off the wrong foot, Hercules encountered a major cinematic foe on the big screen this weekend. Since everyone with a Twitter account is talking about director James Gunn’s acclaimed comic book flick Guardians of the Galaxy, most moviegoers seem to have forgotten that Hercules would like some of your money, too.
Unfortunately for director Brett Ratner, his take on the Hercules legend is only expected to generate around $10 million this weekend. This puts its domestic total pretty far behind its rumored $100 million budget, which probably isn’t settling too well with the folks at Paramount Pictures. For their sake, we hope the movie catches fire intentionally. Otherwise, the studio will need the film to move quite a few copies on home video.
And then a hero comes along to the 'Hercules' premiere http://t.co/JkvZ9O2BJs pic.twitter.com/s6wuTUGXe3
— Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) July 24, 2014
Hercules hasn’t enjoyed a very lucrative year on the big screen. Director Renny Harlin’s like-minded endeavor, the $70 million flop The Legend of Hercules, could only scrape together around $18 million in the U.S. when it arrived earlier this year. Although it grossed a respectable amount of cash from moviegoers overseas, it was largely forgotten by just about everyone on the planet. Sadly, Johnson’s Hercules is currently on-track for a similar fate. Undeservedly so, in this writer’s opinion.
While Hercules struggles at the North American box office, Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy is having no trouble separating people from their cash. The latest Marvel movie could very well bust through the $100 million barrier by the time the weekend wraps up. However, conservative estimates put the flick’s total at around $95 million. Regardless, it’s a major hit for James Gunn and the studio, both critically and financially.
#Hercules, starring @TheRock, hits cinemas today. Here's our review (hint, we liked it a lot): http://t.co/7LByl5LeuU pic.twitter.com/PCa9Q5LrR7
— hmv (@hmvtweets) July 25, 2014
If you’re overly concerned about Dwayne Johnson’s Hollywood clout following the disappointment surrounding Hercules, then you should take a good look at his IMDb page. The guy still has a ton of movies on the horizon, suggesting that this misstep won’t hurt his standing whatsoever. Besides, the movie actually received quite a few positive reviews. Unfortunately, audiences just don’t seem to care about its existence.
Did you catch Brett Ratner’s Hercules on the big screen? Are you surprised the movie didn’t earn more money during its adventure through the box office?
[Lead image via Paramount Pictures]
