SerpApi.Org
On this day 21 years ago one of Scarlett Johansson's worst movies made its way to theaters across the country and resulted in a box office flop – despite making over $160 million.
The Island debuted in July 2005 with a bloated budget of $120 million, but failed to grab the attention of the public before its release.
"What really failed here was not the directing, acting, or story (which were all acceptable for a summer movie) but the marketing campaign," said Edward Epstein of Slate.
Even director Michael Bay couldn't quite believe the lack of marketing success from the film's producers.
"You know, I liked The Island and – the thing is the reaction to The Island it worked really well overseas. I knew it would never be a smash, because it’s not that type of movie, and I continually have so many people that come up to me and say, ‘God that movie is so good.’ But no one knew about it in America," he said.
"I mean, I asked 500 people before it came out, they didn’t even know when it was coming out. You saw our poster campaign, we had a muddled campaign, I knew we were in trouble with that movie domestically like four months out, and I kept saying, ‘You should go with the Warner’s campaign,’ which did foreign, so it was a whole kind of microcosm study of studio marketing."
'The Island' Named One of Scarlett Johansson's Worst Movies
Thought Catalog named The Island as one of the three worst movies of Scarlett Johansson's career.
"Here are four things that I remember about this movie: (1) Scarlett Johansson and Ewan McGregor were either robots, clones, or humans that thought they were clones but actually weren’t. The fact that I don’t remember is testament to this movie’s … (2) Blandness. When I think of this movie, I think of white walls and white outfits," the site said.
"Like, sometimes white can be interesting, such as when it appears in an episode of Euphoria. But in this movie, it was … (3) Bland. Did I mention that this movie was bland? I think Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson made out at one point, which is cool – or did they open a joint bank account together? Both events would have been equally thrilling. (4) It was bland."
The Island owns a measly 39% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics, but scored better with the audience at 63%.
Related: 1956 Classic, Turned Down by John Wayne, Named One of the Greatest Westerns of All Time
