Mila Kunis entered the world of blockbuster filmmaking in a huge way with Jupiter Ascending. Written and directed by the Wachowskis, the filmmakers responsible for The Matrix movies, all signs pointed to the ambitious sci-fi epic being another groundbreaking hit with stunning visuals.
Unfortunately, it was a major disappointment on several fronts.
Despite boasting an impressive cast, the 2015 movie has a dismal 28% score on Rotten Tomatoes and flopped hard at the box office. The movie earned only $183 million worldwide on a bloated $210 million budget, and there was little about it that worked. Even lead star Channing Tatum has looked back at his time making Jupiter Ascending as a "nightmare."
During a recent interview with Josh Horowitz on his Happy Sad Confused podcast (via SFFGazette.com) Kunis revealed that she always had a feeling the movie would fail. Surprisingly, she doesn't put it down to the script or direction.
"When did we know [the movie would flop]? Before we started production, because our production got slashed in half," the actress recalls. "And so the original budget was twice as much, and you can do a lot more with a lot more money, and oftentimes those types of scripts have a very good storyline but extraordinary other things."
"Right before pre-production, for a multitude of reasons with studios and other things, the budget got cut," Kunis adds, "and the movie was different."
While it's hard to imagine Jupiter Ascending being vastly better with a bigger budget (it already cost an awful lot), there's no denying that this must have posed some major problems for the Wachowskis. The chances of the franchise being revisited are obviously somewhere between slim and none, but it is a city in some ways that their vision was compromised in this way.
For the most part, Kunis has avoided blockbuster fare since, though we do wonder if that's down to this movie damaging her standing as a lead star in Hollywood.
What did you guys think about Jupiter Ascending? Let us know in the comments section!