Charlie's Angels opened in 2019 to mostly mixed reviews, underperforming at the box office and being largely forgotten in the months that followed. With an $8 million opening weekend on a budget of $48 million, the movie would go on to gross a mere $73 million at the global box office on a reported budget of around $50 million.
It was a shame as the franchise - which, yes, has also been adapted as various comic books - has potential (especially with a cast led by Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, and Ella Balinska) but not helping matters was the sheer amount of negativity surrounding the reboot before and when it was released.
At the time, star and director Elizabeth Banks wondered if moviegoers simply didn't want a female-led action movie. Now, though, she's spoken to The New York Times (via ActioNewz.com) and suggested that "there was a disconnect on the marketing side" in the sense it was aimed primarily at women.
As a result, Banks feels that many overlooked what they thought was a movie that was more interested in spreading feminist messages than being the fun action flick she intended.
"Let me say I’m proud of the movie. I loved Kristen Stewart being funny and light. I loved introducing Ella Balinska to the world. I loved working with Patrick Stewart. It was an incredible experience," Banks says. "It was very stressful, partly because when women do things in Hollywood it becomes this story. There was a story around 'Charlie’s Angels' that I was creating some feminist manifesto. I was just making an action movie."
"I would’ve liked to have made 'Mission: Impossible,' but women aren’t directing 'Mission: Impossible.' I was able to direct an action movie, frankly, because it starred women and I’m a female director, and that is the confine right now in Hollywood," the filmmaker continues. "I wish that the movie had not been presented as just for girls, because I didn’t make it just for girls. There was a disconnect on the marketing side of it for me."
Banks is clearly frustrated, and the movie's disappointing box office performance certainly doesn't help. Hopefully a female-led action film will come along that's a hit (not involving a superhero like Wonder Woman or Black Widow), though it's unlikely that the Charlie's Angels franchise will be revised anytime soon.
What did you guys think about the 2019 movie? Let us know in the comments section.