Lionsgate executives admitted Thursday that perhaps the studio “rushed” the disappointing YA sequel “Allegiant” movie into theaters.
“Maybe we rushed the third movie a bit instead of taking our time with it,” CEO Jon Feltheimer said during Thurday’s conference call to Wall Street analysts. “We wanted to hit a date.”
The box office and critical results for the film, the third in a series starring Shailene Woodley and based on Veronica Roth‘s dystopian young-adult best-sellers, reflected exactly that. The movie grossed just $66 million domestically, less than half what “The Divergent Series: Allegiant” had the year before.
The company posted lackluster fiscal fourth-quarter and full-year 2016 big-screen earnings figures, which one can read all about here.
“Allegiant” is currently sitting at a sad 12 percent per RottenTomatoes critics; the site’s Top Critics have it fully rotten at 0 percent.
And the film opened to just $29 million in March, based on a $110 million budget. The first two movies in the “Divergent” series opened to $54 million and $52 million, respectively.
The top exec vowed to handle future film franchises a bit better, beginning with 2017’s “Power Rangers.”
“‘Power Rangers’ we’re really, really excited about — it’s looking great,” he told media analysts. “We could see us doing five or six or seven of them.”
Feltheimer promised the press that media materials for that highly anticipated adaptation — including looks at the new costumes — would be out soon.