The samurai action film 47 Ronin, starring Keanu Reeves, has become one of the worst box offices flops of 2013.
47 Ronin opened over the holiday weekend with just $3.4 million at the US box office, although the film’s production budget was $150 million. Ronin is now on track to be the worst film of 2013 with a reported current loss of $175 million. The film opened up a month earlier in Japan and did poorly at the box office as well, but the film finished at the top of the box office in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan.
Many say the projected blockbuster film was going to be a comeback for Reeves career, but many film critics claim the film had a poor cultural and historic story. Ronin was originally expected to be released in 2012, but Universal Studios felt the original film time did not showcase enough of Reeves and the studio held the film for re-shoots and more face time for the actor.
“Universal Pictures regularly evaluates its film slate for potential adjustment. In the case of 47 Ronin, we adjusted film costs in previous quarters and as a result our financial performance will not be negatively impacted this quarter by its theatrical performance,” the studio released in a statement.
Universal Pictures is making up for its loss of profit with strong performances this year from their other box office hits Fast And Furious 6 and Despicable Me 2. The studio finished third in performance at 2013’s overall US box office with more than $1.4 billion in gross profit.
