Following the overwhelming critical and commercial success of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson had the creative freedom and industry clout to do whatever he wanted.
As a result, he decided to remake his favorite-ever movie, and audiences responded in kind by powering King Kong to a hefty $562 million at the box office, not to mention a solid 84% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Things were looking good, then, until the Academy Award-winning filmmaker opted to tackle The Lovely Bones.
On paper, everyone thought we were looking at a major awards season contender, with the LotR trio of Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens acting as the spearheads of adapting another acclaimed literary text into live-action, while the cast was packed top-to-bottom with proven talent.
Unfortunately, The Lovely Bones would go down as a major misstep for the previously bulletproof Jackson. It earned less than $100 million globally, and it would be selling it very short to say critics were hardly left feeling enthused.
However, it’s instantly become a smash hit on Netflix since being added to the library in many international markets, with FlixPatrol naming The Lovely Bones as the platform’s 14th most-watched title around the world, so we could be in the early stages of a resurgence.
Published: Mar 2, 2022 01:32 pm