Not So Mortal Engines: A Futuristic Mega Bomb


After a massive marketing campaign that seemed to be endless, the newest franchise launch pad film has suffered an absolutely crushing defeat at the box office this last weekend. The movie that was produced by Peter Jackson and the people behind The Lord of the Rings movies, only brought in $7.5 million at the domestic box office meaning Universal's hopes for sequels are ultimately dashed. While it seemed like a highly original idea, critics panned the movie from the onset and the film was ultimately a doomed venture that seems to have suffered the same fate as The Golden Compass a decade ago. 

On a weekend that saw an animated Spider-Man movie take the number one spot with $35 million and an older Clint Eastwood take number two with The Mule standing around $17 million, this is the death knell for Mortal Engines. It's estimated that Mortal Engines would have fared much better if released one week earlier when there were literally no new releases. It wouldn't have had the challenges it ended up with over this pre-holiday weekend.