In 2007, one of the first films to utilize motion capture technology was Beowulf. However, although the film sounded promising in every respect, it did not meet the expectations of the production team.
What is Beowulf about?
- The Danes are terrorized by the monster Grendel, which resembles a decaying corpse
- Hrothgar is the King of the Danes and promises half of his treasure to anyone who can slay the monster
- The warrior Beowulf attempts to kill Grendel
- Grendel is defeated by Beowulf and dies in the arms of his mother, who subsequently kills many of Beowulf’s companions
- Beowulf is now tasked with killing Grendel’s mother
We don’t want to spoil the rest of the story for you because there are many unforeseen twists ahead. The story sounds very promising.
The film features numerous actors who have been established in the Hollywood business for a long time. For example, Anthony Hopkins plays the Danish king, and Angelina Jolie appears as Grendel’s mother in the film.
The lead actor Ray Winston is also no stranger and has appeared in various films and series since 1976.
Beowulf was one of the first films to use motion capture technology. This technique records the movements and facial animations of individuals and transforms them into computer animation. Before Beowulf, The Polar Express and Monster House had already utilized this technology.
In the trailer for Beowulf, uploaded to YouTube by Tom Trailer, you can see how this technology is noticeable:
Beowulf fell short of expectations
Both The Polar Express from 2004 and Beowulf (2007) were directed by Robert Zemeckis. Both films utilized motion capture technology and had similar budgets of $150 and $165 million (via boxofficemojo.com, (1) (2)).
The Polar Express achieved a box office gross of $305 million (via moviejones.de). The director likely wanted to build on this success, but Beowulf fell short of expectations, grossing only $196 million (via moviejones.de).
The film received a lukewarm reception from audiences. On IMDb, the film is rated 6.3 out of 10, and on Rotten Tomatoes, it even scores only 50 out of 100 percent.
If you still want to give Beowulf a chance, you will have to buy or rent the film. Currently, it is not available on any major platforms in Germany. You can buy Beowulf from platforms like Amazon or Apple TV.
Moreover, there are numerous films that fell short of expectations. Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger also had to deal with several flops that he has not yet managed to overcome:
“It looked like he was crying in bed”: Titanic director recounts the worst flop in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s career
