5 Fairytale Film Adaptations That Took A Flop
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When talking about fairytale adaptations, the first thing that comes to your mind may be Disney animated feature films like "Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs" or "Cinderella". Although they may have been a success with audiences, there have been directors that experimented with darker takes of these classic tales, with quite the opposite results.
Nicholas Hoult (i-love-daryl-dixion/tumblr)
1. Jack and the Giant Slayer
Bryan Singer's "Jack the Giant Slayer" or might as well be "Jack the Giant Flop" was one of the biggest box office bombs from the list with a domestic gross of $65 million, less than half of its production budget of $195 million. The cast is headed by Nicholas Hoult who have had quite a success in movies prior to this one such as the cute zombie boyfriend in "Warm Bodies" and the Beast in "X-Men: First Class", so what went wrong? Well when "Jack the Giant Slayer" premiered, it went head to head with Disney's fairytale adaptation of "Oz The Great and Powerful" which made nearly four times that of "Jack the Giant Slayer". Many also criticized that the CGI was unconvincing and the fact that it's a mixture of PG violence and a fairytale plot line makes it difficult to find a target audience.
Hansel and Gretel (myrandomblog/tumblr)
With a staggering 15% on Rotten Tomatoes, its domestic gross of $55 million barely covered its production budget of $50 million. Similarly to "Jack and the Giant Slayer", Jeremy Renner from "The Hurt Locker" and "The Avengers" but also like "Jack the Giant Slayer", it was packed with poor CGI. One of the critics described the movie as "showers of gore with intermittent moments of spookiness". Seems like this dark comedy take on the classic fairytale just didn't work out.
Beast (effervesence/tumblr)
3. Beastly
What's "Beauty and the Beast" when the beast is not so much a monster? With a story that explores "false surfaces to discover true inner beauty", a few tattoos and eyeliners seems to do little to "uglify" a hot Alex Pettyfer. While Neil Patrick Harris brings in some wit and humor to the film, "Beastly" still lacks the depth that differentiates it from other teenage sappy chick flicks. Although the movie did cover its comparatively lower budget of $17 million, it was considered a flop due to its low domestic gross.
Red Riding Hood (thisheartofglass/tumblr)
The weekend following the release of "Beastly" was another fairytale adaptation that took a flop at the box office - "Red Riding Hood". Directed by "Twilight"'s director Catherine Hardwicke, many critics agree that this dark take on the "Little Red Riding Hood" was Twilight all over again. That probably explained its unpopularity at the box office with a $37 million domestic gross under the production budget of $42 million.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice (theflapofrabdolph/tumblr)
5. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Many of you may remember Disney's version of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" with Mickey Mouse in "Fantasia" but what about Disney's 2010 movie with Nicolas Cage? With a domestic gross of half of its production budget, it was an undeniably an unsuccessful attempt in box office. Critics agree that despite a pretty solid cast and special effects, it lacks a more in-depth hook that pulls audiences along with the film. Of course, it wasn't a very clever decision for the studios to release it during the same weekend as "Inception", which was one of the major reasons why the box office of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" suffered.
Reach staff reporter Michelle Man here.
