Warner Bros. disaster yarn ‘Geostorm’ bombed and a Deadline.com analysis lays the blame on an incoherent on-screen story that furious behind-the-scene scrambling did not completely repair.
The $120+ million production grossed just $13.3 million domestically in its premiere three-day weekend to tepid reviews from critics and audiences exiting theaters. Warner Bros. Pictures distributes the film from Skydance Media, which is a Hollywood outfit led by David Ellison, whose father is the Oracle tech-biz billionaire.
Even before the weekend flop at the box office, ‘Geostorm’ had a bad buzz for years after principal photography was completed in late 2014. The movie underwent extensive reshoots to replace already-filmed scenes. Ordinarily, such a movie would be in theatrical release within a year.
“Sources tell Deadline that the first cut shown to Warner Bros. studio executives was ‘unwatchable,’” says the story by Anthony D’Alessandro. ’Geostorm’ spent 61 weeks in post (production), went through two composers, and was previewed three-to-four times” in audience test screenings of early versions.
“Our finance experts believe that WB curbed on its global P&A [release prints & advertising] spend with ‘Geostorm’, shelling out less than the typical $140M to launch an event film,” says Deadline.com. “‘San Andreas’ cost an estimated $110M in theatrical P&A.”
Says the Deadline.com story: “So what changed during ‘Geostorm’s reshoots? Dropping out expensive VFX scenes or adding them in wasn’t on the table. ‘Geostorm‘s’ problems were generally about storyline clarity, plot credibility, and characters’ motivations. These were script problems that were hard to spot initially … as they were in the weeds editing.
During the final edit, some characters dropped out. In earlier cuts .. there would be situations where there was a dramatic scene in the film, but it was spoiled by a comedic score playing underneath. In addition to re-shoots and correcting music, (a rescue) team assisted in setting the film’s color tone and finishing the VFX. Test scores shot up 15-20 points across various demos in the final edit.”
The recent hurricane disasters provided some real-world publicity for ‘Geostorm’s’ environmental message. Hollywood churns out a lot of preachy eco-disaster content, so I think this angle leaves audiences leery.
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