MOVIE NEWS – It took four months and more than 200 workers to build a wall, but that still didn’t save the film from financial disaster. Antoine Fuqua’s King Arthur, which was supposed to be a hit thanks to the producer of Pirates of the Caribbean, ended up crashing at the box office.
Just the other day, I was telling you about a new Indiana Jones-style adventure film that’s backed by none other than Jerry Bruckheimer, known for blockbuster hits like Pirates of the Caribbean, National Treasure, and Top Gun: Maverick—names that scream success. But even Bruckheimer doesn’t turn everything to gold: there’s Gemini Man, which bombed spectacularly, or Antoine Fuqua’s 2004 King Arthur, which despite the buzz, was a massive box office flop.
Hadrian’s Wall: A Monumental Set for a Monumental Failure
That ambition took the crew to Ireland, where they built a one-kilometer-long replica of Hadrian’s Wall, the ancient Roman fortification, mobilizing over 250 workers for four months. It became the largest film set ever built in Ireland—fueled by Fuqua’s unyielding obsession with realism. “The wall had to be real. There was a battle at the end, and I wanted people to actually fight on it,” Fuqua said in the film’s behind-the-scenes feature (via Sensacine). They even took precise measurements: according to IMDb, the wall was nearly 12 meters high, with a three-meter-wide walkway on top.
Disney’s “Censorship” and the Sanitized Battles
Fuqua wouldn’t budge on using computer-generated effects—he demanded a real Hadrian’s Wall. He also had 300 swords, 700 spears, and 350 axes forged, along with 2,500 different costumes. More than 400 extras were used just for the Saxon army. But Disney ultimately “censored” his vision, pushing for a PG-13 family-friendly version that turned the bloody fights into tame scuffles. “I started out making the movie I wanted to, but then Disney started watching me,” Fuqua explained. “They said, ‘Try not to show too much blood.’ If you’re doing a gritty, realistic film, everything has to follow that tone. I mean, it’s the Dark Ages—people bled all over the place.”
Although Disney eventually released an “adult-friendly” version on DVD, Fuqua said it wasn’t what he had originally planned—or been hired for, considering he also directed Training Day and The Equalizer. The conflict began when Disney realized the King Arthur story was attracting kids, and they wanted to profit from that interest.
In any case, King Arthur (2004) was already a letdown to many from the start, offering a more “historically accurate” take that stripped away the magic and fantasy of Arthurian legend. Instead, we got a late-Roman epic that moved too slowly to capture audiences—though it’s still a decent film to stream on Disney+ during a lazy weekend. Clive Owen (Arthur), Ioan Gruffudd (Lancelot), and Keira Knightley (Guinevere) star, along with Mads Mikkelsen and Ray Stevenson—quite the star-studded cast.
Ultimately, as mentioned, the action-adventure film was a financial flop, grossing just $146.2 million. Guy Ritchie’s Legend of the Sword (2017) didn’t fare any better: with a $175 million budget, it also topped out at the same amount in theaters, though it starred Charlie Hunnam—this one is available on Netflix.
Source: 3djuegos
