Universal Pictures admits that their samurai-inspired production "47 Ronin" is a box office flop, and disclosed that it took the unusual move of writing down some of the movie's costs before the present fiscal quarter.
The film, which stars Keanu Reeves, opened in the US on Christmas Day at USD 7 million, finishing sixth at the box office, and opened international in 14 territories to a total of USD 10 million.
The film debuted poorly in Japan despite its heavy references to the country's culture and history, but held first place in opening day box offices in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Taiwan.
Despite the difficulty in cracking the Japanese film market, "47 Ronin" was expected to penetrate the heavy preference for local language film because it employed heavyweight local talent including the popular Hiroyuki Sanada.
"47 Ronin" is expected to earn just below USD 20 million through Sunday, the worst debut for a big budget film this year.
Universal Pictures issued a statement that confirmed its writing down earlier than the current quarter, but did not elaborate on the size of the loss.
"In the case of '47 Ronin,' we adjusted film costs in previous quarters and as a result our financial performance will not be negatively impacted this quarter by its theatrical performance," the studio said in the statement.
The film received negative reviews, having been criticized for heavily advertising Reeve's portrayal of one of the titular "Ronin", or medieval Japanese samurai with no lords, in an apparent attempt to attract international audiences by masking the lead Japanese actors.
Despite the bomb that is "47 Ronin", Universal Pictures performed excellently in US domestic box offices this year, finishing behind Warner Bros. and Disney with at least USD 1.4 billion in gross income that included popular sequels to the "Fast and Furious" and "Despicable Me" franchises.
