Video games and movies don’t mix, and they certainly don’t bode well on their own at the box office. With all of Insomniac’s slick marketing and good intentions, the same analogy is unfortunately the same for Ratchet and Clank.
To follow alongside it’s video game release – a reboot that reminded players how vastly beautiful this world was – Insomniac games also decided to reintroduce the Ratchet and Clank saga in theaters as well. Released the same day as the game, the Ratchet and Clank movie was touted to be a family friendly, action-packed adventure filled with tidbits and Easter eggs recognizable to fans who have stuck with the series since it debuted over a decade ago. Unfortunately, Box Office Mojo tells a different story in terms of expected sales and the movie’s target demographic, both of which the movie had failed to meet.
Since it’s debut, the movie only hit $4,823,000 this weekend, a little less than Disney’s Zootopia – in its ninth week -at $5,006,000 and a lot less than the $42,439,000 for reboot of The Jungle Book – week three. By these numbers, it could also be concluded that Ratchet & Clank also failed to pull in the kiddos, or that the kiddos couldn’t convince their parents to tag along.
Reviews for the movie were also pretty dismal, which is a huge problem considering that the video game did pretty well. We even did a fine review of it and gave it a great score. One could only assume what happened to Insomniac’s beloved franchise considering the lacking numbers for it’s theatrical counterpart.
Nevertheless, this news does tell us one thing: video games turned into movies are bad. Always and forever.
