“Blade Runner 2049” will be one of the great disappointments of 2017. Weekend box office was just $31.5 million, about half of what it should have been.
What went wrong? The only thing I can say is, October is not an Oscar month. With an 89 on Rotten Tomatoes, falling slightly from a 98, I thought more would have been made of this stunning film. But there was no New York premiere, no NY hoopla, and in LA Warner Bros. waited so long for a premiere that they got knocked out by the tragedy in Las Vegas. So the west coast premiere went off the record with red carpet.
Also, just Monday morning quarterbacking, there might have been a week of the original “Blade Runner” in theaters or on platforms so the audience didn’t feel lost. A lot of people felt that if they didn’t know the first movie they wouldn’t get this one. So only hardcore fans went to see 2049.
What a shame. You don’t need to see the original to enjoy “2049.” You can go and enjoy it for what it is. Denis Villeneuve has made his own masterpiece, with a great performance by Ryan Gosling and and amazing cinematography by Roger Deakins.
