1999 was considered by some to be a watershed year for movies, and it’s sad to see how several filmmakers from that year have fumbled, especially M. Night Shyamalan and The Wachiowskis. Jupiter Ascending, the latest from the Wachiowskis, has really shown how far their stock has fallen.
While we haven’t seen the movie yet, the reviews have been brutal, with Uproxx even comparing it to that other sci-fi masterpiece, Battlefield Earth. A number of reports have pointed out the movie’s $175 million budget, which Warner Brothers certainly won’t recoup, and a headline in the Verge noted “it’s time for an intervention” for the filmmaking duo. (Newsweek once made a similar comment about Shyamalan about whether there could be a twelve-step group for egos.)
Other reviews include “Interplanetary nonsense signifies nothing in Jupiter Ascending” (NPR), “cool worlds sink on Wachowskis’ weak plot” (L.A. Times), and “every bit as terrible as you thought it would be.” (The Inquisitr).
The movie’s also been fairing badly at the box office, getting beaten out by the Spongebob Squarepants feature, which pulled in over $50 million, and American Sniper, which has held in there as a major moneymaker for three weeks.
