The sci-fi movie “Ender’s Game” was released ten years ago. Despite a star-studded cast and an interesting story, it flopped massively at the box office.
The sci-fi adaptation Ender’s Game (German title: Ender’s Game – Das große Spiel) had its theatrical release in October 2013. The story revolves around a boy trained at a military academy to fight against an alien invasion.
Among the cast of the film are numerous well-known Hollywood actors, such as:
- Harrison Ford
- Ben Kingsley
- Viola Davis
- Hailee Steinfeld
- Asa Butterfield
- Abigail Breslin
Ender’s Game is based on the eponymous sci-fi saga by Orson Scott Card. However, it is possible that the original book may have contributed to the film’s failure.
Here you can see a trailer for Ender’s Game:
Despite 15 million dollars in profit, a Hollywood flop
How much did the film make at the box office? The worldwide gross of the film is around 125 million dollars. That sounds like a large sum of money at first. However, a lot was also invested in the project: the budget is estimated at 110 million dollars (via imdb).
Thus, Ender’s Game made just a profit of 15 million dollars, looking solely at the box office numbers. This is considered a significant flop by Hollywood standards.
What was the problem? Even before the film’s release, there were controversies and calls for boycott that may have affected its box office performance. The reason for this was previous statements made by author Card:
He had publicly spoken out against homosexuality in the past and supported laws against same-sex marriage.
More about the failure of Ender’s Game can be found here at our colleagues from Filmstarts.
Due to the poor box office numbers at the time, a continuation of the saga is currently very unlikely. The book series, consisting of a total of 16 volumes, would provide a substantial basis that could even serve as the foundation for a series due to its scope.
If you like action-packed sci-fi adaptations, you might be interested in this series. Season 2 is starting soon: “Apple has finally recognized that they have their own Dune” – Huge sci-fi series is getting a continuation soon
