“King Arthur: Legend of the Sword” will be known as “Legend of the Bored.” Almost no one went, and the result is a $14.7 million weekend.
The Warners movie cost $175 million plus, which could be high as $250 million for promotion, etc. That’s a total write off even with some international box office thrown in. So far there’s about $30 million in the till from foreign audiences.
“King Arthur” is the Hindenburg of the 2017 movie season, and a great disappointment, no doubt, as Time Warner tries to merge with AT&T. If that merger should ever occur, these huge failures won’t be tolerated so well.
Luckily, Warner Bros. has potentially four blockbusters coming — Justice League, Wonder Woman, Dunkirk among them. But this hurts. And it certainly makes Guy Ritchie’s future more questionable with a “Man from UNCLE” sequel being discussed (I don’t know why) and more Sherlock Holmes films with Robert Downey Jr. a possibility. Ritchie may need a time out after this debacle.
The next big blockbuster release is Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean 5” due on Memorial Day weekend. There are many questions about Johnny Depp’s viability after all his bad press, not to mention the aging of the franchise. Disney, thriving with Marvel, animation and Pixar, can just shrug it off if P5 doesn’t work.
