A Rough Opening for King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
This past weekend King Arthur: Legend of the Sword opened up in theaters to disastrous box office results of $14.3M and embarrassing reviews. King Arthur is expected to fall third behind Disney/Marvel’s second weekend of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 at $61.9M and 20th Century Fox/Chernin Entertainment’s R-rated Amy Schumer-Goldie Hawn movie Snatched with $16.5M. This is just painful for the movie that cost in upwards of 175M to make. Ouch!
This should not come as a huge surprise as audiences have showed little interest in King Arthur the last time he was brought to the screen 13 years ago in Jerry Bruckheimer’s Disney production ($120M negative cost, $51.9M domestic, $203.6M global).
Some are placing blame on Sons of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam in the title role of King Arthur while others are blaming the movie’s director Guy Ritchie. Some of the critics have really hammered the movie. New York Magazine Emily Yoshida gave the movie a 30/100 and said:
“King Arthur is guilty of many blockbuster sins critics have taken it upon themselves to call out over the last decade. And yet, seeing a version of them this derivative and dumb, with neither CGI grandeur nor a sense of fun on its side, is like a splash of cold water in the face, a reminder of how bad things can be when nobody cares.”
Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers gave it a 25/100 and said:
“An epic bore that believes if you make a movie long and loud and repetitive enough, audiences will conclude it’s saying something profound. Wrong.”
There is; however, a very positive review out there and as New York Daily News Allen Salkin gave the movie a 85/100 and said:
“The stylish and engrossing reinterpretation of the mythological king’s early years lacks character development, but makes up for it with swashbuckling, sword-fighting, beast-slaying fun.”
Have you seen the movie? Tell us in the comments below.