Netflix is soon adding a Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal monster movie flop to its streaming lineup.
The streamer has been highlighting on its platform that the 2017 film The Great Wall will begin streaming on May 1. Set in ancient China, The Great Wall chronicles the story of mercenaries William Garin (Damon) and Pero Tova (Pascal), who venture to the country to obtain gunpowder.
What Garin and Tova didn’t expect in their trek, however, was a mammoth monster they have to battle at the Great Wall of China — and join forces with thousands of Chinese soldiers to fight thousands of other monsters that are moving fast toward the historic structure.
According to box officer tracker The Numbers, The Great Wall had a rough reception at the domestic box office in 2017, earning $45.1 million during its seven-week domestic theater run, making it a flop with U.S. audiences.
Four years after The Great Wall was released, Damon confessed to Mark Maron during his WTF podcast (via The Hollywood Reporter) that the film wasn’t the best of career moves — something he was brutally reminded of by his then-15-year-old daughter.
“Whenever she talks about the movie, she calls it The Wall. And I’m like, come on, it’s called The Great Wall,” Damon told Maron. “And she’s like, ‘Dad, there’s nothing great about that movie.’ She’s one of the funniest people I know.”
Damon told the podcast host, however, that he disagreed with claims of cultural appropriation by critics of The Great Wall.
“I saw the movie as the exact same plot as Lawrence of Arabia, Dances With Wolves [and] Avatar,” Damon told Maron. “It’s an outsider [who] comes into a new culture, finds value in the culture, brings some skill from the outside that aids them in their fight against whatever and they’re all changed forever.”
How Was ‘The Great Wall’ Received By Audiences And Critics?
The Great Wall opened in 3,325 theaters on February 17, 2017, with $18.4 million in ticket sales stateside. The tally was enough to generate a third place during its opening weekend in theaters, finishing behind The Lego Batman Movie and Fifty Shades Darker, which earned $32.6 million and $20.2 million for the No. 1 and No. 2 slots, respectively.
The Great Wall ended its domestic theater run at the end of March 2017 with a final tally of $45.1 million in ticket sales.
While The Great Wall failed to gain traction in the U.S., it at least attracted international audiences, earning $289.3 at the box office overseas. With its domestic and international tallies combined, the film earned $334.4 million at the worldwide box office against a $150 million budget.
Still, THR said, the film lost $75 million after all of its numbers were tallied.
The Great Wall also hit the wall, so to speak, with Rotten Tomatoes critics, scoring a dismal 35% “rotten” rating on the site’s Tomatometer based on 238 reviews. The film didn’t fare much better with viewers rating the movie on the site, earning a tepid 42% positive Audience Score based on 10,000-plus ratings.
Directed by legendary Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, The Great Wall also stars Willem Dafoe, Tian Jing (Kong: Skull Island and Pacific Rim: Uprising) and Andy Lau (Infernal Affairs).
The Great Wall begins streaming on Netflix on May 1.
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