Director Peter Jackson is primarily known for his directing work on all three parts of The Lord of the Rings. He also directed The Hobbit each time. However, one of his films did not perform well with the cinema audience.
Which film is it? It is about Mortal Engines: War of the Cities. The film was released in German cinemas in 2018 and is based on the novel of the same name by Philip Reeve. While Peter Jackson was not the director, he was responsible as a screenwriter and producer.
Initially, he wanted to take over the direction himself when he acquired the rights in 2007. However, over time he decided to appoint Christian Rivers to his position. He and other employees of Mortal Engines had also worked on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, which should have indicated a box office hit.
Was it due to Spider-Man?
How poorly did the film perform? Mortal Engines only receives average ratings: On the rating platform IMDb the film scores 6.1 out of 10 possible points, while on Rotten Tomatoes it is only 26 percent with the critics.
The audience’s opinion is also reflected in the revenue: The production of the film cost a total of 100 million US dollars, but only about 84 million US dollars could be recouped (via boxofficemojo.com). Thus, it is a financial failure.
Meanwhile, there are several parts of the book series, but due to the financial failure, it is extremely unlikely that the rest will be filmed.
Why did the film flop? One factor that likely contributed to the low number of moviegoers was the simultaneous release of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Additionally, while the actors were already known from films like The Hobbit, there was no standout actor serving as a star cast.
The Story Behind Mortal Engines
What is Mortal Engines about? The story takes place in a distant future where the Earth’s resources are nearly exhausted. Humanity fights for the last goods and builds cities into moving fortresses.
The cities are classified into different classes. The futuristic steampunk version of London is, for example, a larger city that appropriates the resources of smaller cities.
Where else do I know Peter Jackson from? In addition to the two fantasy trilogies The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, Peter Jackson has worked on the adventure film King Kong or the film drama The Lovely Bones.
His work has brought him so much success that he was even awarded the Order of New Zealand and has since held the title of Sir.
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