Why Replicas Bombed At The Box Office

It seems pretty obvious why Replicas bombed at the box office, right? The Keanu Reeves sci-fi film had an odd premise, a confusing trailer, and despite how many times you saw the Replicas trailer, you probably didn’t exactly understand what the movie was about. Replicas flopped at the box office, earning less than $2.5 m in its opening weekend. Replicas is the worst opening weekend film in Keanu Reeves career, and that includes Johnny Mnemonic, so that’s saying something.

January is a double whammy for studios - it’s a month that generally has the lowest turnout at the boxoffice for movie goers, and is also a dumping ground for films that they think will perform poorly. If you think those two things seemingly go together, well, they kinda do. Rarely is there a box office smash it in January. The fact that Replicas had a January release spelled doom for it before anyone even knew what it was about.

Replicas completed principle filming way back in 2016. That means Replicas sat on a shelf for almost 3 years. Judging by the reviews and the few that did see the film, it likely sat for so long because it was a hot mess of a movie - difficult to follow and didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Keanu Reeves has experienced a bit of a rebirth lately - his John Wick films are wickedly popular and he is thought of as one of the truly good people in Hollywood. But not even John Wick couldn’t save Replicas.

#Replicas #Keanu Reeves

Sci-fi schlockfest | 0:17
A worst for Reeves | 1:01
Damaged goods | 1:42
Winter blues | 2:29
The dumping ground | 3:12
The opposite of hype | 3:42
The bleak future | 4:22