2016 sci-fi blockbuster with a mega budget and two Marvel stars was supposed to win over audiences. The film flopped, partly because of the controversial storyline.
Some films are lost from minute one, others only really sink in after several weeks in the cinema. The sci-fi smash Passengers, on the other hand, became a flop despite Marvel stars Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence in the leading roles and a 150 million dollar budget. Not least because of a miscalculation in the script.
Sci-fi blockbuster Passengers was torn apart by critics
In Passengers, a spaceship with several thousand people in hypersleep is on its way to a new planet. Preston (Pratt) is the only one awakened too early by a defect and must now spend his life aboard the ship. Tormented by loneliness and suicidal thoughts for a year, he finally wakes up Aurora (Lawrence), who is supposed to keep him company from then on. And tells her that a mistake was also responsible for her short sleep.
Watch the trailer for Passengers here:
Some will already see the mistake here. Pratt’s character deprives Aurora of the possibility of her previously chosen existence in order to satisfy his own needs. Nevertheless, the film presents the two as a love duo. Many critics:inside saw this as a romanticisation of brutal assault.
The problematic story idea was not the film’s only weakness (via The Guardian ), but it was certainly a major factor in the film’s flop. In the end, Passengers recouped $303 million (Box Office Mojo ). This is not a historic flop, but with such a high budget it is simply disappointing.
