‘Desert Warrior’ Deserted? Why Anthony Mackie’s Troubled Saudi Epic Failed To Rally Cinemagoers In U.S. & Middle East

Details:

>If Desert Warrior was one of Saudi Arabia’s big cinema swings, then it looks to have been a swing and a miss, based on the movie’s early box office takings. Starring Captain America’s Anthony Mackie and Oscar winner Ben Kingsley, Desert Warrior endured a troubled five-year trek to the screen, but finally debuted in theaters last weekend across the U.S. and Middle East.

>Set up at Riyadh media giant MBC Group and acquired by Vertical, the movie has suffered bruising headlines based on its performance in the U.S., where it had grossed $596,000 on 1,010 screens as of Thursday, and been billed as one of the biggest box office flops in history.

>Vertical’s marketing has unsurprisingly spotlighted Mackie, Kingsley, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes director Rupert Wyatt’s spectacular shots of Saudi sands, but cinemagoers have ultimately not responded to Desert Warrior’s rallying cry, and it looks unlikely to recoup its $150M budget.

>Not that expectations were ever that high. Those close to Desert Warrior were realistic about the movie’s appeal, particularly at a time when war is raging in the Middle East. There had been hopes Desert Warrior could crack $1M in America, but even so, it’s far from a disaster for Vertical.

>The box office picture is not much brighter in Middle Eastern markets, according to figures seen by Deadline. Desert Warrior grossed $87,000 from 6,100 admissions in Saudi Arabia over its opening weekend, making it the eighth-biggest title in the country.

>Timing has worked against the MBC. Cinemagoers don’t have the appetite for a film about a desert war in the middle of a literal desert war, one observer noted. MBC considered pushing Desert Warrior after Donald Trump bombed Iran, but the company was reluctant to delay again after years of false dawns.

>Others point to more fundamental creative issues with the film. A distribution source in the Middle East told Deadline that Desert Warrior has fallen between stalls, appealing to neither Arab nor Western audiences. “I’m not sure who it is targeting,” this person said. “It looks like another big-budget Hollywood film that just happens to have been filmed in Saudi.”

>These concerns were echoed after an unfinished version of Desert Warrior, which was not edited by Wyatt, underwent audience testing in July 2023, producing negative results. Sources told Deadline that the research led people on the film to question whether there was any demand for a Western interpretation of an Arab story.

First I’m hearing of this movie lmao. They failed in marketing.

I genuinely don’t think Anthony Mackie has any star power. Trying to make him Captain America was a huge fumble. This further validates that point.

whoever put that movie together should be kicked squarely up in the balls/overies