Blade Runner 2049 needs to gross a hefty $400 million at the box office “to be considered a win,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi classic cost $150 million to make. Alcon Entertainment and Sony Pictures threw in $90 million each, and rebates and tax incentives took some of the load off. Warner Bros. is releasing the movie domestically and will grab some cash from the deal while Sony is handling overseas distribution.
The article stresses that “Alcon’s future depends on Blade Runner 2049.” Andrew Kosove, co-founder and co-CEO of Alcon, says the company needs to develop some franchises or risk death.
“If you don’t have repetitive cash flow, which is a fancy way of saying being in the sequel business, you are going to be in trouble eventually,” Kosove said.
Deadline said Blade Runner 2049 was tracking to open in the mid-$40 million range last week. A strong overseas presence and a hearty holdover in the states will be required to hit that $400 million mark.
Grossing $400 million puts Blade Runner 2049 around the top 250 films of all time. Only about 30 of those movies share Blade Runner 2049’s R-rating.
Star Ryan Gosling just had his first $400 million hit with La La Land, which grossed over $445.6 million at the box office. His second biggest hit, Crazy, Stupid, Love, made $142.8 million worldwide. As for the returning star from the original, Harrison Ford, he has had his four Star Wars movies and the last two Indiana Jones movies pull in over $400 million.
Meanwhile, tallying up all of director Denis Villeneueve’s movies barely passes $400 million. His biggest hit is Arrival, the Amy Adams sci-fi drama that made over $203.3 million worldwide.
Blade Runner grossed a little over $30 million at the box office during its lifetime, which is about $80 million when adjusted for inflation, according to Box Office Mojo.
Blade Runner 2049 will face other big budget movies like Geostorm on Oct. 20, Thor: Ragnarok on Nov. 3 and Justice League on Nov. 17 throughout its run. Reviews haven’t officially been published yet, but articles at publications like Entertainment Weekly and /Film have compiled some rave tweets from those who have seen the movie. Us normies get to form our own opinions on Oct. 6.