Who would have thought that the Wachoski brothers would make a film that does so horribly at the box office? Amazing, when you consider that they were universally praised for the ground breaking special effects for The Matrix Trilogy, they produced V for Vendetta, another big hit, and now their new film Speed Racer, which tries to break even newer ground effects-wise, has been universally panned by critics and is dropping like a rock at the box office.
What happened? It was perfectly placed in release order to come between Iron Man and Prince Caspian, had a cast of known actors, and two big selling points, a beloved anime show and the creators of The Matrix. Maybe it was too much pre-release hype, maybe it was too literal a translation, maybe the ads just don’t make it look good. I know The Patient One said as soon as she saw a shot of John Goodman in his red and blue outfit with mustache and cap all she could think about was Super Mario Brothers, and had no interest in the film after that. As for me, everything I’ve seen of the film, the special effects makes it look too cartoony for me, though to be honest the picture I saw of Christina Ricci in her skin tight pleather body suit does have a certain…appeal, but not enough for me to plunk down my hard earned coin. Maybe that’s the biggest problem, in a summer clogged with returning favorites, there just isn’t enough in the film to appeal to a large audience with limited funds, the two hour plus running time doesn’t help either.
What ever the case, many critics are looking at how much the film cost to produce, how little it’s taking in at the box office, and realize it can’t break even, much less make a profit. Which has lead to the ominous word, Ishtar to be bandied around.
