Why did Dredd flop at the box office?

‘Why did Dredd flop at the box-office?’

The comic based bloody action film Dredd was set to be one of the films of the year. However, after its release on the 7^th September 2012, a different story was to be told. It soon appeared that it was riddled with errors and poor production choices. Some of the main down sides of the film was the casting choice, age certificate and low budget. The film was also the unfortunate predecessor of a shoddy 1995 Hollywood style movie starring Sylvester Stallone. It’s not that the movie was complete rubbish, it got decent reviews from some of the top movie rating websites and did manage to win a couple of awards, it’s the fact that it did not live up to be what everyone thought it would be, especially existing Dredd fans.

In terms of pre-production, the film didn’t have the strongest basis. After all, Dredd is a British comic book character which in theory is a niche market and even though the film is technically American, the character himself isn’t the most appealing of all the ‘super heroes’. As well as not being one of the most characters in the world, Dredd had been poorly presented in the cheesy and unfaithful 1995 Hollywood version of Dredd. The film starred Sylvester Stallone and was a total wreck. The film was seen as unfaithful to world of Dredd and didn’t seem to follow any of the original Dredd’s plots created in the comic books. The fact that the 2012 version was the follow up to a glamorous disaster did not help the appeal of the film as most people it would be of the same standard. One of the big reasons that Dredd was not able to appeal to a larger audience is due to its 18 age certificate. Most super hero films are around the age rating of 12a and PG-13 such as Marvel Avengers which was rated as a PG-13. By doing this, the directors and producers were simply shooting themselves in the foot since the film was only open to adult viewership and the intense amount of blood and gore lessened the amount of female viewership that the movie was able to gain. Films such as Marvel Avengers and the Amazing Spider-Man appeal to a much wider audience such as family’s consisting of all ages and genders. Finally in, in terms of pre-production, the film was made on a very low budget compared to other Hollywood films. For example, Marvel Avengers was made on amuch more wealthy budget of $220million. Dredd on the other hand was created using a budget of only $45million. This sized budget didn’t allow for the best equipment or sfx to be used. All of this contributed to the flop of Dredd at the box-office.

Alongside pre-production, the actual production also added to failure of success for Dredd on the box office. One of the main elements of the story of the film was the drug ‘SLO MO’ which when inhaled slows down the work process of the brain therefore appearing to slow down the world around you.  When the substance is used in the film the scenes were shot in slow motion which appeared to be one of the main selling points of the film yet the execution of the slow motion did not seem to be entirely convincing. As well as not appearing beautifully, the slow motion costs the institutions a lot of money to purchase and use therefore the slow motion cameras such as the phantom flex would have taken a substantial amount out of the director’s already low budge. This money may have found better use somewhere else. Actors are often essential to a movie and its level of success. Take Marvel Avengers for instance, the huge block buster was filled with a heavy load of top listed actors such as Robert Downing Jr, Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans. Dredd on the other hand didn’t provide the A list cast as its 2012 rival. Instead Dredd starred Karl Urban, who played the judge, jury and executioner himself, Olivia Thirlby who played Anderson and Lena Heady who played the unconvincing gang leader, Ma-Ma. As well as not starring a world famous set of actors, the film’s director, Pete Travis , is also not an A list director and therefore people may have been put off of the film since they were nor familiar with his work.  Lastly, in terms of production, the location of the film was an odd choice which also turns out to be a poor choice. The story of the film is that Dredd and his Rookie assistant for the day have are locked in one of Mega Cites One’s mega towers, Peachtrees, all the way to the top to reach and kill the violent and disturbed clan leader Ma-Ma. However, this meant that the films location was for the most part fixed in one building that viciously lacked variation or creativity. The production of the film just added to the already un-convincing pre-production and stunted the success of the film.

Marketing is large part of any film because it is what promotes the movie and should, in theory, make people want to see that film out of interest and excitement. However, due to a low budget for the film, there was also only a low budget for an advertising campaign which for Dredd consistent of a standard teaser trailer, trailer and one poster. This was defiantly a big contributor to why Dredd flopped at the box office since it was very easy for people to be unaware of the films existence whilst it was being played in the cinemas that it was able to be shown in. This brings me onto my next point; the film was shot in 3D using very expensive 3D cameras. This meant that you had no choice but to view the film in 3D which, for obvious reasons, was a very poor production choice. Many people are not fans of viewing films in 3D so would have been put off seeing it. This 3D only choice also meant that only certain cinemas that had the equipment and capability to show the film were able to do so. This meant that independent cinemas that are perfect for showing smaller movies were not able to show it. This defiantly prevented the film form being viewed by a much wider audience. On the contrary, films such as Marvel Avengers and the Amazing Spider-Man were available to be shown and viewed in both 3D and 2D. This allowed these feilms to appeal to a much wider audience than Dredd was able to. Also bigger films such as these also had much bigger marketing budgets which allowed them to promote their film a lot more to a higher standard.

Even though there is many down sides to Dred 2012, and was not one of the most successful films, it was a total disaster. It gained a rating of 7.0 on IMBD and 78% on Metacritic. These are actually decent ratings which show that the film did have some elements of success. As well as pretty good reviews, Dredd also won two awards. The film managed to win Best 3d at the Empire Awards, UK and Best Thriller TV Spot at the Golden Trailer Awards. Even though the film did not manage to make back its money and did only managed to make $41million the film will most likely make back its money over time through DVD and Blue-Ray sales in the future. So even though the film does not appear to be a success, it wasn’t a complete failure either.  

In conclusion, Dredd 2012 flopped at the box-office due to a poor casting choice, low budget, and small amount of marketing. Alongside an unknown director and low production level the film was never really set for success.