25 Great Movies That Flopped
25. 47 Ronin (2013)
Keanu Reeves and Hiroyuki Sanada starred in this interesting but often confusing story loosely based on the real-life group 47 Ronin.
Ronin are masterless samurai. Stories of the 47 Ronin and their quest to avenge the death of their lord, when acted out or told, are called Chushingura in Japan and are a deeply loved tradition in Japanese culture.
Because of this the film was expected to be a hit with Japanese audiences, but it was here that the film was most harshly criticized.
The Hollywood retelling of Chushingura was viewed as a major departure from the traditional Japanese historical epic that the people of Japan cherish so deeply. Outside of Japan the film was blamed not for poor quality acting, but for low quality one-dimensional characters.
Aside from a lack of character development, many people reported being confused and said the story was hard to follow. Even though the film lost a staggering $149.5 million at the box office, it still offered a visually stunning and interesting show to the audience.
Its vast departure from the stories on which it was based, however, left most people in the dark, and put the production studio in the red for the remainder of 2013.
