I have been writing an article about why
Dredd 3D was the most important superhero movie of the year. Not
The Avenger or
The Dark Knight Rises or
The Amazing Spider-Man but
Dredd 3D. It would show how just because you aren’t a big named hero doesn’t mean you can’t be successful. It would show how Judge Dredd could be the one to open the door for small named heroes that aren’t known to the public like Martian Manhunter, Black Panther, and Dr. Strange, and many more. Sadly this article will never see the light of day. Recent projections for Judge Dredd’s box office are dreddful. Hell Bill Gates probably makes more money in a day than Dredd will in North American box offices. We have seen great previews of the film and great reviews so how could this have failed? How is to blame? I’m going to take an in depth view on who could be blamed but also why they shouldn’t be blamed.
Should We Blame Dredd 3D? Let’s look at the movie. You’re first off a reboot of a 1995 Sylvester Stallone movie that did pitiful in the box office and had bad reviews. Most movies reboots nowadays are of great movies we have seen. We have seen reboots to great movies like
Total Recall,
Robocop,
True Grit, and so many more. Why would you try to take a character that failed already and try again? But then again doesn’t everyone deserve a second chance? Judge Dredd is like a combination of Batman and Rorschach that turned into a cop. People like Batman so any character that has similar features to Batman is great. Maybe you shouldn’t have done a simple plot? But then again people don’t know Judge Dredd except from the Stallone movie. Maybe if you start something off that isn’t too crazy, people would go see it. Maybe most of the movie shouldn’t have taken place in one building. But then again
Die Hard took place in a building and turned out successful.
Should We Blame The Studios? At lot of people will point the blame at Liongate for the failure at Dredd. It has been reported that Liongate didn’t make an effort to widen the film’s appeal or the audience for it. But let’s look at Liongate point of view. People don’t know Judge Dredd. He’s not a well known comic book character like Batman or Spider-Man or Superman. Also people who do know Dredd most likely know him from the Stallone movie and that movie sucked, so people would think that this movie would suck. Another factor is the R rating this movie got. It isn’t easy selling an R rated movie. I know someone mentioned the
Expendables sells so why can’t Dredd?
The Expendables is filled with people like Stallone, Terry Crews, Bruce Willis, Arnold, Jet Li, the list goes on. People don’t know Karl Urban as much as the cast of the
Expendables. Also because of the R rating you couldn’t sell the movie to teenagers to try and get them to see it. Also as I pointed out there isn’t a big name cast member that has a huge audience that will see the movie for them. Urban is a great actor but nobody says they want to go to a movie because Karl Urban is in it. Also the content of violence could be a factor. But then again Liongate, comic book movies sell. This year proved that comic book movies are still alive and well and you have a character that could be your company’s superhero and you don’t back him up.
Should We Blame The Audience? Maybe it’s the audience fault for the failure of
Dredd. Yea I’m talking about all of you and everyone that goes to see a movie. There are so many bad movies that sell. I see previews to that new Jennifer Lawrence horror movie. I know that movie will suck because horror movies nowadays suck but people will see it because Jennifer is in the movie. Look at
Total Recall. Yea I didn’t see it because the reviews were bad to it. I’m going to focus on comic book fans for a second. Most of you complain how you don’t like Michael Bay directing Transformers, or how you didn’t like Nolan, or how you don’t like the fact Spider-Man is being rebooted but when those movies are out, all of you comic book fans go to see it. You may complain afterwards but you still saw it. We live in a comic book dominating movie world, so how could have Dredd failed? Maybe some of you thought it was too violent and didn’t want to see it. Comic fans should support comic book movies no matter what. I’m a diehard DC fan but I support Marvel movies and any other superhero movie I will see. What’s good for one superhero movie is good for all and now Dredd looks like a failure. Don’t give me there were no commercials. I watch ESPN, TBS, FX, Spike and other channels and I saw TV spots for Dredd.
Is this movie really anyone’s fault? Can we blame this solely in one place and not blame another? I do blame Liongate but looking from their point of view, can you really blame them for the failure of Dredd? Can we also blame the film for trying to give Dredd a second chance? This movie should not have failed. The reviews were amazing for this film. It looked too great to fail and yet it did. What do you guys think? You guys think Dredd failed because of the movie, Liongate, or the audience? Voice your opinions. Peace