Punisher: War Zone Completely Bombs
Posted by John Campeaon 08. 12. 2008in News Chat
For almost a year ago I started writing about how bad I was predicting Punisher: War Zone was going to be. From the project’s biggest cheerleader (Thomas Jane) walking away because even he thought the script was too awful, to the drama with the movie’s director Lexi Alexander, to the inexplicable way the movie was managed at Comic-Con this year right down to a poor trailer. I saw extremely little hope in the project. Then I saw it and had to eat my words a little bit because while there are a lot of things wrong with the movie, I had a really entertaining time watching it.
But one part of my prediction that I never changed was that this film was going to bomb. And my international friends… bomb it has. Punisher: War Zone came in at a measly $4 million opening weekend. That’s not a typo. $4 million. 2 weeks ago I never would have thought I’d say this… but it deserved better than that.
Maybe it was the R rating. Maybe it was the fact that it was using a TV star (Ray Stevenson) to play the lead role (he was awesome in it by the way). Maybe it was the poor marketing campaign. Maybe it was all the drama leading up to the release of the movie. Maybe it was the fact that Punisher just isn’t a popular enough character. Maybe it was a lot of things. Whatever the reason, I think it’s safe to say it’ll be a LONG time before we see any incarnation of The Punisher on the big screen again with a track record like this:
Dolph Lungren’s version: FAIL
Thomas Jane’s version (even though I sort of liked it): FAIL
Ray Stevenson’s version: FAIL
Maybe Billy Baldwin can do one next?
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I thought Thomas Jane’s was O.K. Not the best, but watchable, and even a bit enjoyable. I haven’t seen the new one yet, so I’m part of the reason it bombed. But I can honestly say that I am at least INTERESTED in seeing it. You are right though John, it’ll be a long while before this pops up again.
i dont understand it.
its a damn good cheery holiday family flick.
I saw this movie this weekend. I thought Stevenson did a good job in the role. I even thought the basic plot idea was good. However, what I didn’t like was how graphic the violence was. Just shoot the bad guys and let them fall. We don’t need unrealistic torrents of blood spurting with every gunshot along with the accompanying sound effects. Normally, I recommend movies such as this to others if I think they would be interested. This will receive no such recommendation. At the last minute, my wife decided she would come along. For her sake, we almost got up and left but decided to stick it out.
It was a good movie. I think it suffered a bit from the baggage carried over from the previous incarnations. Too bad.
I don’t think any other Marvel character has had this many chances to succeed and bomb miserably. Even the first Punisher movie didn’t bomb this badly did it?
Really it could be because of every reason anyone right now has thought of. News, public desire, violence, release date, plot. whatever the case i dont I feel john is right and we wont see another Punisher movie for maybe 10 or 15 years.
I thought this movie was so damn hilarious. It’s this decade’s Riki-Oh!
You cant win ‘em all Marvel
LOL i knew it would
Too bad. But the Punisher also suffers from being one of the most cliched Marvel heroes. Ex-cop, guns, dead family – there’s not really much to capture an audience’s imagination with this guy. Everyone probably just looked at the trailer and said “I’ll wait for the DVD.”
The marketing campain by Lionsgate was awful. There has to be more to trailers that a guy shooting people. There was no story arc what so ever described in any trailer and you never got to see Stevenson really speak in them. That is a formula for people not showing up to the theater! I haven’t seen this film yet but I did enjoy the Thomas Jane version despite its problems..
Chuck
Yeah, there was next to no advertising for this movie. Non of my friends that are huge Internet-surfers even knew the movie was being made until I was talking about it last week.
When it’s a week before the movie comes out and the general public doesn’t even know it exists – something is wrong with your marketing.
Oh fuck, now who knows when it’ll come out in the Uk? It’ll probably be direct to DVD over here.
ya lionsgate did a poor job advertising the movie. I watch alot of TV at night and I only saw a commercial once. Also they kinda chose a crappy release date, why release a hardcore violent movie two weeks before christmas??
Ever since they announced a new punisher, i was pumped about it but WOW only $4 million. I was expecting it to make at least $7-8 million. I guess the guys are still busy taking their girlfriends out to see twilight :P
I intended on seeing it this weekend but there was another movie I had more in mind to watch first and that was Milk. I finally saw it last night and loved it. I’ll probably go see Punisher this week so I have more time now.
I never read the comic so I don’t know if they did this to ‘keep the spirit’ but I thought the problem with this film was all of the quirky characters. I was soooo loving this movie until the rasta acrobat with an accent that I couldn’t identify (and I’m a linguist!) showed up. Then the silly cop who really works with the Punisher. And where was all the action in the middle? This was a script problem in my opinion. If it had been a solid hard core action film, word of mouth would have kept this film going. But it didn’t. Rather than being dark and hard like the original Crow per se, it was dark but often quirky. And it killed the film…
oh yeah it got terrible money
not enough chair leg. :/
Why didnt john woo direct this. Punisher is supposed to be about bad guys and guns and shooting and revenge
I’m pretty sure this film will pick up steam once it hits DVD, with the surprising positive word of mouth.
But yeah Lionsgate dropped the ball on this one, plus I think the release date very strange indeed.
I saw this on Saturday and it was a good time. The Violence was over the top make you laugh but was not as horrible as “critics” are saying it is. My GF watched 4 Christmas while I was watching Punisher in a theater with 20 people, when my movie was over I went to meet her in 4 Christmas as it was wrapping and the theater was full of drones for that drivel of a holiday movie. Now that its bombed, maybe Marvel will get the rights back and can make a Marvel U Punisher movie, with the Punisher being persued by S.H.I.E.L.D, or have it in the Marvel Knights universe where he can meet Daredevil.
i just saw this movie and it RULED
T-VO
yes, i want a movie like that
daredevil
punisher
moon knight
iron fist
and then ronin (i dont care if ronin is played by daredevil or moonknight..just have ronin!!!)
The trailer and TV ads that were shown were awful. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but will wait until DVD.
Dennis
not a bad idea T-VO
Sucks to admitt it, but you called exactly right John. Bravo.
I think The Dark Knight changed the comic book movie landscaoe forever. People want a more earnest film. TDK is the standard for all comic book movies. Many comic book movies will bomb until the Watchmen comes out.
The previous two Punishers failed for different reasons. I wouldn’t even call the Jane version a complete failure.
Lundgren’s film failed in part due to the friction between the credited writer Boaz Yakin and Robert Kamen the producer; as a result, the iconic skull was left to the knives and Castle wasn’t “The Punisher”. The film was also in a phase where New World was having a shake up- and had to sell off the film, which went right to video in the States. Not helping was some stllted acting by Barry Otto and Nancy Everhard.
Jane’s version was great, I think, however…in the *same* month of April 2003 there was *two* other revenge type pictures, Kill Bill vol2, and Man On Fire. John Travolta wasn’t a great bad guy either. That belonged to Will Patton, who showed more menace.
And this version? That’s too easy why it failed. Lionsgate obviously didn’t support it. Five years of strife, some friction between studio and director, writers wanting to disown their own work…another restart/reboot or retcon….a non-comics base is confused…
and then there was Comic Con.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:
The Punisher (while my favorite comic book character EVAR) will never make it in the Hollywood mainstream market because he’s NOT A HERO. He’s a villain, or at least an “anti-hero”.
Now Punisher as a villain in a Spiderman film might work, and I’ve hoped for that since Spiderman 1.
46and2
youre absolutely right.
in fact, the punisher STARTED OUT as a spiderman villain named “the reaper” or something liek that. then he got another name change (still beign a hitman villain) and then they made him the punisher as in…now hes a good guy
but originally this is a villain. a spiderman villain from the 60s
No, Hazmat- The Punisher never was introduced as the Reaper, never had a name change, and..he wasn’t a Spider-man villain. In Amazing Spider-Man #129 , he was merely an antagonist, having been duped (and set up) by the Jackal. He was always a Death Wish/Dirty Harry-like vigilante. He never was a ‘hitman’
The movie was to violent plain and simple, it had some decent moments but the overkill violence sunk it. Probaly will do great on DVD so a bunch of kids needing psycotropic drugs, or possibly casteration, can sit and watch the kill scenes over and over again.
Isaid it before it wasn’t the extreme violence that disturbed me it was the people laughing at the extreme violence thatdisturbed me. The Punisher is a good story but they chosse to accentuate the wrong elements of the story.
Batman has altered comic movies forever and it probaly won’t always be for the better.
I enjoyed it. more importantly my wife liked it.