WHY DID DREDD FAIL AT THE BOX OFFICE? Dredd is a British-South African, science fiction action film.

It is based on a 2000AD comic strip, Judge Dredd. In 1995, Danny Cannon decided to re-make the comic strip into a British Film. It failed due to the over dosage of the political puns, this defeated the object of the movie being a serious, action themed. Also, the fact that Stlyvester Stallone took off his helmet destroyed the whole scary, sci-fi atmosphere; as it created less of a mysterious movie leaving the audience on the edge of their seats. Additionally, the technology then restricted the directors in making the movie as high-tech as they wanted it to be, which generated a lot of bad critique. Additionally, the movie was not faithful towards Dredd, as Sylvester Stallone constantly took his helmet off as a way to promote the movie and him. Eighteen Years Later, Pete Travis wanted to re-make the 1995 movie thinking that now the technology has upgraded, they are able to make a much more advanced one. One of the reasons why this movie failed as well was the casting. Dredd was made by a British Film Industry, hiring American casts. Using American casting, appealing worldwide; however many movie critics felt that Dredd was a copy of US Superhero Films such as Ironman or Batman. The major differences between Dredd and Ironman is that Dredd is an 18, this only applies to one of the four quadrants whereas Ironman applies to all four (as it would be a PG or PG 13); Dredd would then be only making one quarter of what Ironman makes. As the movie wasnt British, the audience werent interested as they just felt that we were competing with America. Furthermore, British films tend to be about the British Monarchy or certain eras within British History, this would appeal more internationally as people would be interested as Britain is famous for the royal family. The camera used during the production of Dredd was a Red X and in 3D. Not many viewers want to see the movie in 3D; this caused a drastic loss in income as the public wasnt up to watching an 18 in 3D. The camera used for Ironman was Canon 5D, which allows the movie to be viewed in 2D. This appealed more towards the audience, as people of all ages were able to see this movie as it had a diverse range of genres, so that the viewers has a reason to go see it. Also, the stars within this movie are all well-known in the movie industry, which would also appeal to the audience; as most of the population know who Robert Downey Jr is (he makes Iron Man). On the other hand, with Dredd being an 18 and just an action makes them instantaneously losing out on a lot of income. The movie would turn out to be a bit off putting when it was released as an exclusive and limited run which meant that this would only be released in a certain amount of cities and not everywhere. The closest to Leicester was Birmingham; many didnt want to travel that far to watch a movie in 3D, so they would either wait for the movie to be released in DVD (as it would theoretically be cheaper) or just not watch it all. A reason as to why the 2012 Dredd also failed was that the Superhero movies are everywhere; Dredd being made was just an ineffective way of competing with the Americans at what they do best. The British Film Industry dont necessarily have as much money as America do, to produce a high quality action/superhero movie like the Americans. As America have a lot more money, it means they are able to afford better quality technology in enhancing the sound/ visual effects etc. and also provide better CGI, to make the movie look more realistic and apply to the four blockbuster rules. Dredd didnt follow all of them, as due to the low budget they werent able to buy A List Stars appealing to the audience. During the Post-Production process, Dredd launched a viral advertising website, put up posters of Judge Dredd (Karl Urban), a follow up comic strip on Ma-Ma was made and press conferences occurred; all of which to promote the movie. However, these were only launched within the UK which meant not a lot of people were aware (which is what the problem was in 1995). Alternatively, Iron Man released merchandise (action figures, video games etc) globally, releasing a video game based on the film (so that the fans could get a taster of what the movie would be like and slowly get them liking it). Also worldwide companies such as Burger King and Audi promoted the movie. Furthermore, home media was released as a DVD, which generated a gross of $93 million and sold 4 million copies in the first week. Due to the careful preparation and planning in marketing the movie, it made a box office of over $585M, which was over 5x more than the budget. Dredd, lost $8.5M with a budget of 45m whereas Iron Mans was $140M.

For future purposes, the British Film Industry should collaborate with the American Companies providing them with the money to enable Britains to make hi-tech and high quality films similar to America. The strategy in which they release and market the movie should be different, as they should make the whole globe aware of the one particular character and what his/her purpose is; only then would everyone be familiar with who they were as Dredd (both movies) was unknown in status. In addition, they should incorporate all of the genres within the movie, as then it would appeal to everyone; similarly the age rating on the film shouldnt be as high as then theyd be losing out on a huge amount of income. More so, the movie should be available in different screens (2D, 3D, Imax etc.) so that the audience have a variety when going to the cinema. Also, when being released it should be a Universal Release (Like Iron Man), so that everywhere has the opportunity to view the film.