Dredd Essay

Why did Dredd flop at the box office?

Dredd flopped at the box office for many reasons. What I think is the most important reason, is the post-production. The producer of Dredd, Pete Travis, made many mistakes within the post-production stages.

Marketing was the major issue with the success of Dredd as simply, there was not enough money put into the marketing as there should have been. The film had only one trailer and I, myself have never seen this trailer on anything I have watched. This can be shown in comparison, to the Marvel comic book film Avengers Assemble, which was released in the same year, this marketed all over the UK and there was no way that anyone could have not have seen even one piece of The Avengers marketing, they marketed the film in the cinema, on the TV and even on the side of buses. The Dredd distributor teams needed to think more about how they were going to market the film to their target audience as they have not done this. The trailer, I think, does not appeal to their target audience, adults.

The fact that Dredd was competing against other big blockbuster films that were released at the same time, in the year 2012, the year that Dredd was released, can be used as a reason for the film flopping, Avengers Assemble, The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man films were all released within a year of Dredd. This made great competition for Dredd to fit in with these blockbuster Marvel films as they were all competing in the comic book genre style film, this was made more difficult for Dredd as these films had a bigger budget than Dredd’s budget of $45 million, this means that they can afford to sell their film before it is released.  These kinds of films have spent a lot of money making sure that there was a big enough buzz around the film in the media so that when the film is actually released, enough people go to watch it, so that the film makes its money back, this can affect Dredd as even if the film wasn’t released at the same time, the marketing from the Marvel films could over run the Dredd marketing.

The lack of a big star is also very important when it comes to why Dredd flopped. All major comic book movies have a big star that plays the main character, whether it is an A-lister or not. This is vital when creating a film with no buzz around it as it will help attract attention from the media. This cannot be fully to blame as the previous film version of the Dredd comic books stared Sylvester Stallone, who was a huge film star in 1995 when the first Dredd film was made, this also was a flop. The film needed a character that the viewers had previously heard of to add to the story line. The story line is also a problem with the film, as there is a significant lack of story line. The film shows a little back story at the beginning but then doesn’t carry it on.

This can link in with another reason. Many critics believe that the film does not have a sufficient ending, at the end of a comic book film, the super hero is meant to “save the world” and everything be restored at the end. Whereas Dredd’s ending is quite different, Dredd does not save the world, but a block of flats and carries on with life at the end like nothing has happened. This has a major impact on the film as at the end, the viewer is left to realise that nothing significant would have happened if Dredd would have not saved the day.

Another reason why the film flopped was the use of special effects. The film was filmed in 3D and added special effects in later, but it was the kind of special effects that were used.  The “Slo-mo” effects that were used in the film, where the characters are slowed down and the audience are allowed to see the bullets that have been fired enter the flesh of the character, were meant to be the highlight of the film as they are the only effects that stood out within the film, but the audience was not impressed with these effects because they were too simple. The film was said to have been trying to “replicate the effects of hallucinogenic drugs”, but this was not appreciated, as some critics have picked up on. The New York Daily News says “Dredd is a lot of murk and grunt with no inner engine. And the unnecessary 3-D only makes it look muddier”.  These special effects were also not necessary in the films storyline, and have made this film rated 18. This has then lost the film even more money as the main target audience that I would see this film having is younger teenage boys, the boys that have read the comic books, whereas the ridiculous fighting scenes and gruesome special effects has stopped them being able to see the film.  I believe that if the rating had been lowered to a 12A, or even a 15, or the “Slo-mo” scenes were removed, the film would have been a success. This has been the case for many of the rival Marvel films, as they have violence in them but not to the extent that Dredd has, this has enabled them to be shown to the younger generation who has read the comic books, making them even more money.

The special effects in the film have been said to be very basic and that any film-editor could have edited this film. This does not attract people to see the film as viewers want to see things that they have never seen before and expect to be “wowed” when watching a film. Especially with the film genre that it is. People would like to be showed things that they could not be able to see if they were not watching a film. This is where Dredd lacked as it did not involve this.