Brad Bird

As much as a huge segment of the movie-going population likes to bitch about the number of sequels and reboots in theaters, Brad Bird says there’s a simple reason why there are so many– those same complainers don’t support original movies.  And Bird points to the 2014 Tom Cruise time-loop adventure ‘Edge of Tomorrow’, which had a soft opening, coming in at third behind Maleficent and holdover ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past‘.  It did, however, eventually earn $370 million worldwide, making it a success.

However, the lackluster response to the movie, according to Bird, who worked with Cruise on ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’, is why Hollywood doesn’t greenlight more original films.  As Bird wrote:

Brad Bird
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GREAT movie, but the audience (who asks for originality in films) failed to show up for it. If it had been released as “LIVE, DIE, REPEAT” it might’ve been the hit it should’ve been. Sadly, it was called EDGE OF TOMORROW… a terrible & bland title for a really entertaining film.

This movie was famously straddled with this terrible name after two changes.  It was originally to be named ‘All You Need Is Kill’, which was the title of the Japanese light novel that inspired it.  Then it became ‘Live, Die, Repeat’ which most agree is a stronger name and indicative of the plot, in which Cruise’s character is sent into war only to die and be reborn to relive the experience again, like a really violent version of ‘Groundhog Day’.  ‘Live, Die, Repeat’ was used as the film’s tagline.

When it was released on DVD and BluRay, ‘Live, Die, Repeat’ was more heavily featured than ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ which was crammed down into the bottom corner.  So apparently the studio realized that sticking this Doug Liman movie with a terrible title did it no favors at the box office.

Ironically, there is a sequel in the works, as Bird later confirmed:

To be clear, EDGE OF TOMORROW was a hit, but given production and advertising costs, it didn’t show the kind of profit that would encourage other studios to start gambling on originals again. But they ARE planning a sequel…

The sequel is reportedly being called ‘Live, Die, Repeat and Repeat’.  Just so long as it’s not called ‘Edge of the Day After Tomorrow’, it may stand a shot.

But ironically, by being a sequel, this has now shifted into that same category that people complained about in the first place.

Are you really sick of sequels, reboots, and franchises?  Would you like to see more original product in theaters?  If so, did you go see ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ in theaters?

Source: Cinema Blend