News culture 9 years ago, this SF film wanted to bury Marvel and DC: it did not even have the right to a cinema outing, it was a monumental oven …
Nine years before Barbie’s explosion in the cinema, Mattel had already attempted a major Hollywood breakthrough. Thought as the starting point of a large franchise capable of competing with Marvel and DC, this science fiction project has however transformed into disaster. Released in the United States in indifference, he never even reached French rooms …
This studio wanted to compete with Marvel and DC, but it burned its wings …
In 2016, long before the worldwide success of Barbie In 2023, Mattel already fed Hollywood ambitions. The toy company sought to compete with its great competitor Hasbro, whose franchises Transformers et G.I. Joe had found a place of choice in the cinema. To achieve this, Mattel was betting on Max Steelan adaptation of one of its ranges of figurines and its animated series. The objective was clear: to create a new franchise capable of setting up in the face of the behemoths that Marvel and DC already represented. The project was not born from nowhere. As early as 2009, Paramount had considered an adaptation before the project stagnated. Mattel finally set out and founded a division dedicated to audiovisual production, Playground Productions.
In parallel, a new television series had emerged to relaunch the brand with young audiences. The story chosen for the feature film rested on Max McGrath, a teenager discovering a mysterious energy in him. By merging with Steel, an extraterrestrial warrior, he turns into superheroes responsible for protecting the land. With Stewart Hendler to the realization and Christopher Yost in the script, the film brought together Ben Winchell, Josh Brener (Steel voice), Maria Bello and Andy Garcia. Shot in North Carolina in 2014, It benefited from an estimated budget for around twenty million dollars, to which are added 15 million dedicated to marketing. Everything seemed ready to lay the foundations for a new cinematographic license. Unfortunately…
The criticism and the box office are unanimous, the film Max Steel is a monumental disaster
The American exit, in October 2016, has however turned into a shipwreck. Broadcast on more than 2,000 screens, the film only reported $ 2.18 million during its first weekend. The attendance then plunged by 68 % the following week, then 82 % more after. Quickly removed rooms, Max Steel ended his career with barely $ 6.2 million in global revenuewell below its production costs. The failure was such that it was relegated to video purchase/rental only two months after its American release. In France, the film was not even entitled to the cinema, arriving directly by VOD and DVD four years later.
On the criticism side, the result was just as catastrophic. With a score of 0 % on Rotten Tomatoes, Max Steel is regularly quoted as one of the worst superhero films never made. The journalists denounced an intrigue without originality, a slow rhythm and an absence of humor. Variety was talking about a ” sloppy appetizer and a waste of time “, While the media IGN evoked ” One of the most forgettable attempts to create a superhero franchise ». Christy Lemire de RogerEbert.com underlined “meanwhile” that a film based on a toy should be much more fun than that ». Even the presence of Andy Garcia and Maria Bello was considered incomprehensible to the poverty of the project.