Following Captain America: Brave New World‘s underperformance, Anthony Mackie’s latest movie, Desert Warrior, is bombing hard at the box office, with the reported $150 million to $170 million historical epic opening to only $487,848 domestically.
The movie opened in around 1,000 theaters last weekend, which makes the number even worse. That comes out to a brutal per-theater average of under $500.
The overseas numbers are just as bad. According to Box Office Mojo, Desert Warrior has only opened overseas in the United Arab Emirates, where it brought in $29,660. The worldwide total currently sits at $517,508.
For a movie with a reported blockbuster-sized budget, that puts Desert Warrior in the conversation as one of the worst wide releases of all time.
Desert Warrior Collapses At The Box Office
Desert Warrior stars Anthony Mackie as Hanzala, a mysterious warrior who helps a fugitive king and princess while making an enemy of Emperor Kisra.
The movie also has a solid cast. In addition to Mackie, the film stars Ben Kingsley, Aiysha Hart, Sharlto Copley, Sami Bouajila, and Lamis Ammar.
The movie was funded by MBC Studios and backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. It was also filmed in Neom, Saudi Arabia.
Rupert Wyatt directed the film. Wyatt is best known for Rise of the Planet of the Apes and also worked on the excellent The Exorcist TV series.
The script is credited to Rupert Wyatt and Erica Beeney, who worked on Captive State, along with Gary Ross, who wrote The Hunger Games, and David Self, who wrote Road to Perdition. Wyatt also produced the movie, with Beeney serving as an executive producer.
Reviews Did Not Help
The reviews also did not give Desert Warrior much of a boost.
The movie currently has a 25% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes with 16 reviews. The Audience Score is better at 62%, but that has not translated into box office interest.
IMDb users have been even harsher, with Desert Warrior sitting at 2.1/10.
Critics generally point to the same issues: big scale and solid production values, but a dull story and forgettable execution.
The Hollywood Reporter said the movie is likely to disappear quickly, while AV Club said the story is dull and the performances are uninspired.
There were a few positive reviews, with Geek Vibes Nation, The New York Times, and The National praising the movie’s spectacle, scale, and old-school adventure feel.
Still, the overall response has been rough.
Marketing and Production issues
Desert Warrior also reportedly had years of behind-the-scenes problems before finally reaching theaters, and there seems to have been zero marketing.
Reports said the Saudi-backed production faced unfinished Neom infrastructure, missing roads, extreme heat, sandstorms, COVID delays, budget overruns, post-production clashes, distribution trouble, and the challenge of bringing in crew and equipment from around the world.
As for the marketing, it was almost nonexistent (of the 60+ images on IMDb, only four are of Mackie: one is a poster, one is a small pic you can barely make out, another is a blurry BTS photo, and one is with Aiysha Hart at the end, and none feature Ben Kingsley).
That’s hard to ignore when Mackie is a major Marvel actor, Twisted Metal has been a hit for Peacock, and yet most fans probably had no idea Desert Warrior was even in theaters.
It raises the obvious question: after spending so much on production, did the Saudi backers simply decide they had already spent enough? Or even better: did they see how hard Mackie bombed as Captain America and folded their cards?
The film was originally designed as Saudi Arabia’s first Hollywood-style tentpole and the first major feature shot at Neom Media, but after years of delays, it ended up looking less like a global launch and more like a quiet theatrical dump.
Watch the trailer:
