'Nightmare From the Beginning'; Channing Tatum Wasn't the Only One Convinced Jupiter Ascending Would Flop
A huge budget is not always an indicator of quality. Lana and Lilly Wachowski, whose spectacular science fiction production turned out to be a flop, bring a shining example.
2015 saw the premiere of Jupiter Ascending. The sci-fi movie had everything to be a huge success: a budget of an impressive $175 million, an all-star cast headed by Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum, and, most importantly, a directing duo in the form of Lana and Lilly Wachowski. Despite so many aces up its sleeve, the movie from the creators of The Matrix turned out to be a flop.
Jupiter Ascending not only received devastating reviews from industry critics (on Rotten Tomatoes the show was positively reviewed by only 28% of journalists), but also poor reception by viewers. As a result, the title managed to earn "only" $ 183 million in theaters around the world, which barely covered the cost of its production.
On the other hand, it is hardly surprising that the movie turned out to be a flop, since even the cast members did not believe in its success. Some time ago Mila Kunis took part in Josh Horowitz's podcast, Happy Sad Confused, (via Variety), during which she confessed that even before the shooting of Jupiter Ascension began, everyone felt it was doomed to failure. The reason for the gloomy mood among the crew was the news that the budget had been halved..
"When did we know that the movie would fail? Before we even started shooting, because our budget had been halved.. The original budget was twice as much, and you can do much more with much more money. (...) Just before pre-production, the budget was cut for various reasons - and the movie suddenly became completely different," she explained.
Considering the quality of the work currently showing in theaters around the world, The Creator, it's hard to agree with the actress' statement that a large budget is a guarantee of the movie's success. Gareth Edwards' movie cost only $80 million, and artistically it performs much better than the Wachowski sisters' work. However, it is possible that in the case of Jupiter Ascending the extra millions would have enabled the directors to realize their initial plans, which were ultimately limited by the budget.
The joy of working on the set was not felt by Channing Tatum either. In an interview with Variety the actor confessed that he didn't give his all in the movie because he was exhausted from previous projects.
"I shot four movies in a row without a break. I wasn't as good as I wanted to be, in the last two, because I just didn't have the energy. Jupiter Ascension was a nightmare from the very beginning," the star confessed.
Eddie Redmayne, who played the role of Balem, has more positive memories of working on the movie. During an interview with GQ, the actor assured that he had a great working relationship with the Wachowski sisters. Unfortunately, this had no effect on the reception of his performance, for which he won the Golden Raspberry in the Worst Supporting Actor category.
