Vin Diesel and Steve Jobs actually have something in common: Both of their movies flopped at the box office over the weekend. A pair of surprises, though for very different reasons, these two flops serve to remind us how unpredictable a popcorn-munching audience can be. The highly anticipated biopic based on the biography by Walter Issacson was well reviewed and applauded by critics, but failed to interest the public. It is the second time that a Steve Jobs biopic has failed to do anything—the first, Ashton Kutcher's 2013 Jobs. Meanwhile, the movie-going public has expressed they only like Vin Diesel when he's fast and furious. His newest film, The Last Witch Hunter, fell way below expectations, as well.
As mentioned earlier, this is the second attempt to try to sell the idea that Steve Jobs' life would make interesting cinema. Combined with Ashton Kutcher's attempt, the two films have made a combined $14 million dollars. The current project starred Michael Fassbender and was helmed by Trainspotting director Danny Boyle. Its failure perplexed many, and there has been talk of it being Oscar-worthy. Quoted from Variety, "Perhaps the most frustrating stumble was Steve Jobs. After scoring the year's best per-screen average two weeks ago and slowly expanding with positive results, Steve Jobs failed to stick the landing when it was finally ready to go nationwide. It made a disappointing $7.3 million from 2,443 locations. That barely beat the $6.7 million that Ashton Kutcher's critically excoriated Jobs made in its initial weekend."
As for The Last Witch Hunter, the worldwide phenomenon that was the last Fast & Furious sequel failed to help put butts in the seats for this film. Grafted from the body parts of previous incarnations, the Frankenstein monster that was the script offered little aid for Diesel to try to expand beyond his endeavors with the late Paul Walker. Says Variety about the film, " this new vehicle doesn't really play to his strengths - despite being developed and co-produced by the actor himself. Barring an early (and swiftly discarded) reference to his character's prowess as a ladies' man, there's precious little room here for Diesel's lunkish, slightly self-parodic streak of humor. And if it's hard to buy the star as a 14th-century soldier of the Catholic Church, earnestly slaying sorceresses for 700 years without a wrinkle to show for it, the screenplay (bearing evident redrafting scars from a trio of scribes) doesn't make much of an effort to sell the idea."
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