I’m pretty sure that no one was surprised when ‘Battleship’ flopped at the box office. After all, basing a movie on a board game with no story and then adding aliens doesn’t exactly sound promising. But now, the film’s director seems to have stumbled upon an explanation as to why the movie bombed and it looks like he’s pointing the finger at his actors.
According to an interview with The New York Times Magazine, director Peter Berg shed some light on one possible reason why his 2012 sci-fi/ action flick sunk at the box office. Learning from his experience with 2008’s ‘Hancock’, he claims ‘Battleship’ failed because of lack of star power. That must be a tough blow to Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgard, and Liam Neeson. Here are Berg’s comments from the article:
“I felt I had a new understanding of what went into making a blockbuster. I got a taste of a film’s global power. But I discounted the effect of Will Smith on Hancock’s success. I thought I could pull off ‘Battleship’ without a big star.”
Special effects also played a part in the downfall of the film. Because the production spent over $200 million alone on various effects, there was no more money in the budget to bring in some bigger stars.
Currently, Berg is working on his latest film, ‘Lone Survivor’, for Universal that stars Mark Wahlberg and follows the story of a group of Navy SEALs who fail to capture a Taliban leader. He hopes to take what he’s learned from his past failures to “buy back his reputation”.
Do you think that the lack of big stars is really what led to the downfall of ‘Battleship’? Could there be any other reasons that you could think of for the film not succeeding? Share your theories in the comments below.
