Warner Bros.
In what has been a six-week slump to the start of year, Warner Bros. fairytale-inspired film earned $27.2 million on a bloated $195 million budget.
Jack's tumble from the box-office beanstalk shouldn't come as much of a surprise.
The film not only changed its title months before opening, but also underwent changes in director and multiple delays ahead of its March release.
Here's five other factors that contributed to the downfall of "
1. Catered to the Wrong Audience:
Originally titled "Jack the Giant Killer," a nod to the 1962 movie of the same name, "Jack" was supposed to be a grittier version of the fairytale for older audiences.
Warner Bros.
One of the CGI giants in "Jack."
However, the studio opted for a more family-friendly name after the film was pushed back last year (more on that in a minute).
As a result, the film seems to have suffered from much of the same demographic issue as DreamWorks Animation's recent "Rise of the Guardians."
Based off a children's nursery tale, the idea of seeing a reimagined "Jack and the Beanstalk" may have seemed too childish for older audiences. At the same time, the film may have come across too scary for young children with the word "slayer" or "killer" in the title.
2. Rewrites, delays, and change in directors:
Sean Gallup / Getty Images Bryan Singer came on as the second director for "Jack," overseeing an entire overhaul in the script.
A few months later in September, Bryan Singer ("X-Men: Days of Future Past") became attached to the film as director instead. When he signed on, there was a complete rewrite for the project.
While production was set to begin summer 2010, it became delayed until 2011 after Singer voiced concerns for the visual effects along with a budget crunch.
The film's release date then moved around a couple of times.
"Jack" was set to release last June after the successful "Snow White and the Huntsman" and before Disney's "Brave"; however, last January, Warner Bros. pushed the film back to March 22, 2013 to focus on reshoots.
Instead, Tom Cruise's eventual flop, "Rock of Ages," took its place.
Later in October, the film was moved up to the first week of March with the altered title "Jack and the Giant Slayer."
3. Too large of an investment:
$30 million isn't a bad opening weekend, until you consider that $200-million budget. "Jack" fell far short of other productions with similar budgets:
|
Movie |
Budget |
Opening |
Facebook Likes |
|
$200 million |
$116.1 million |
||
|
$200 million |
$88.2 million |
1 million | |
| $195 million | $97.9 million | 389,000 | |
| $200 million | $42.6 million | 1 million | |
| "Jack the Giant Slayer" | $195 million | $27.2 million | 1,590 |
The majority of these films were either sequels or well-known franchises with large A-list actors in the lead. (Granted, "Jack" had star power from Ewan McGregor which was underplayed in marketing.)
Rather, the film becomes the latest in a trend of movie studios taking gambles with large inflated budgets ("John Carter," "Oz the Great and Powerful").
Universal "Jack the Giant Slayer" seemed like a favored hit given the spike in fairytale interest, but it was missing some of the star power of the previous films.
Jack's run at theaters came less than a month after Jeremy Renner's fairytale adaptation of "Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters" hit theaters.
The film received negative reviews and opened to $19.7 million which may be a sign to studios that audiences aren't interested in nursery rhymes and Grimm fairy tales being adapted and altered for adults on the big screen.
There's a reason why "Alice in Wonderland" and "Snow White and the Huntsmen" became huge sellers for Hollywood as opposed to these recent two flicks.
1. Both fairytales aren't pulled from toddler tales.
2. Despite darker takes, both "Alice" and "Snow White" have the luxury of popular and profitable Disney characters before them so its less of a risk at the
Of course, "Hansel & Gretel" picked up overseas, as "Jack" may do in the coming weeks, but neither will come close to the billion dollar hit of "Alice."
5. The box-office slump:
For the past month and a half, the box office has been down.
| Week | 2013 | Week | 2012 |
| Feb 1-3 |
$68.9 million |
Feb 3-5 |
$94.1 million |
|
Feb. 8-10 |
$86.2 million |
Feb 10-12 |
$173 million |
|
Feb. 15-17 |
$126.1 million |
Feb 17-19 |
$143.2 million |
|
Feb. 22-24 |
$88.3 million |
Feb 24-26 |
$114.2 million |
|
Mar 1-3 |
$92.8 million |
Mar 2-4 |
$152.4 million |
Five of the past six weekends have totaled well under $100 million for the box-office top 12. Last weekend alone, the U.S. box office showed a 38 percent decline from the year before.
With no "Hunger Games" or "Lorax" hit yet, no single film has seen a weekend gross close to the $70 million of the March Dr. Seuss hit last year.
The largest hit of 2013 so far has been poorly received "Identity Thief" with a $34.6 million opening weekend.
With "Oz" out this weekend, and estimated to debut between $65-$80 million (not "Alice in Wonderland" huge) Disney's hoping its $200 million film will breath some life into theaters.