Disney is arguably the most celebrated studio when it comes to box office success – certainly over the last few years. In 2018 alone, the studio was responsible for the huge successes Black Panther ($1.3 billion worldwide) and Avengers: Infinity War ($2 billion). But what we sometimes lose sight of is that the flip side of that very gold coin holds some of the biggest flops – just think A Wrinkle in Time ($132 million) and Solo: A Star Wars Story ($354 million).
Sure, these aren’t making nothing, but relative to the budget and time involved it can be classed as almost disastrous. A few failures are to be expected though, even inevitable, but two films in particular that have the potential to bomb are yet to be released, these being ‘The Meg’ and ‘The Predator’ from the studios Warner Bros. and Fox respectively.
We all know the movie masses just love sharks and often they don’t do too bad when it comes to turning a profit either. However, some estimate that Jason Statham’s ‘The Meg’ won’t do the same? As for why this is, Meg‘s budget at around $150 million – that a lot, even for a film- but ‘The Meg’ doesn’t have the benefit of being a part of a big shared cinematic universe so there is no extra incentive for folk to turn up to the film in the first place. It’s going to have to sink or swim on its own merits, and not many believe it has the legs or originality to do the former.
As for ‘The Predator,’ even those who are sceptical regarding the upcoming release’s success desperately hopes they are wrong on this one given that the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger original has become a cult classic, but Fox is hoping ‘The Predator’ can mop up some of the big thrills box office money it generated last year, and that’s a big ask, especially considering the fact that the three most recent movies in this franchise all saw falling box office returns.
I guess for now we will have to wait and see how both turn out as ‘The Meg’ releases on the 10th of August 10 while ‘The Predator’ will hit cinemas on the 13th of September.
