The Last Duel’s box office flop was not because of millenials, it was because of the pandemic and the fact, that medieval dramas aren’t exactly the top genre nowadays.

In the last decade or so classic movies were cast in the shadow, because of the sky rocketing progress that CGI achieved. The cinema of today is full of action stars, super heroes, and animated movies, while only a little space is available for those movies like Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel.

A medieval triptych directed by Ridley Scott, the film follows the real-life story of Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) and Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver), two noblemen who duelled to the death in 14th-century France after Carrouges’s wife Marguerite (Jodie Comer) accused Le Gris of rape. The story is told from their three perspectives. The actors are doing a great job, the dialogues are memorable, and the fight scenes are very brutal, just like it would be in real life. And yet this brilliant, adult-oriented film has recouped only the third of its $100m (£75m) budget since its release in October, becoming the director’s biggest flop to date.

Those who championed the film also criticised Disney’s marketing campaign, Insider says. While the director, speaking to Marc Maron on the WTF podcast this week, backed the studio, saying that Disney “did a fantastic promotion job”, although he was concerned, that bosses wouldn’t like the final result. While Scott seemingly backed the studio, he stated that the film was unseccessful because of the millenials, who were brought up on f***ing cellphones. Adding, the millennian do not ever want to be taught anything unless you’re told it on a cellphone.”

Independent’s article about the scandal stated that Scott must have miscommunicated, because “millennial” is not the byword for youngsters. The youngest millennials are nearly in their late twenties, while the oldest are already 40. The site even says that this group was the loudest of the people, championing Scott’s movie. It is hard to define, what could go wrong concerning Ridley Scott’s movie, but it is worth mentioning that there is a pandemic, which strikes the movie industry as well. Some people hope that the Disney+ arrival of the film may better the result, medieval dramas aren’t exactly a booming genre, especially not on streaming.

Source: Independent