Peter Jackson’s Mortal Engines could be the US$100 million film flop of 2018 – so what went wrong?

A baffling story that lacks a hook, a debutant director, almost no stars, big competition, a massive marketing misfire – Universal has a holiday bust

Studio hoped to launch a new sci-fi fantasy franchise with Mortal Engines, but woeful reviews and terrible ticket sales look to have doomed that idea

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In Mortal Engines, set hundreds of years after a cataclysmic event has destroyed civilisation, roving “predator cities” on caterpillar treads, including London (seen here), devour everything in their paths. Photo: Universal Pictures

Published: 1:32pm, 18 Dec 2018Updated: 1:32pm, 18 Dec 2018

Every year brings at least one hugely budgeted movie that doesn’t just sink at the box office, but positively plunges like a flightless turkey. It’s the kind of epic miscalculation that makes a studio re-evaluate its entire year.

For 2018, Universal/Media Rights Capital’s Mortal Engines has just weighed in as the biggest holiday bust – a monster of a miss. Or, as Exhibitor Relations analyst Jeff Bock told Variety: “This is a true Christmas disaster and a lump of coal for Universal.”

Mortal Engines, co-written by Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, grossed a paltry US$7.5 million in its North American debut over the weekend, from more than 3,100 screens. That only deepened the hole for the sci-fi fantasy spectacle, which has grossed US$34.8 million overseas on a reported US$100 million budget – meaning that the movie could lose more than US$100 million after marketing costs are factored in.

Universal had largely been buoyed this year by Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which grossed US$1.3 billion worldwide, and enjoyed good returns from Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (US$394 million worldwide), The Grinch (US$373 million) and Fifty Shades Freed (US$371 million).

The common denominator among all those hit films, of course, is that they are the latest entries in existing franchises.