Monster Trucks comes at you with the simplicity of a childhood daydream: there’s a truck and there’s a monster and the monster drives the truck! At this point, the kid would wander off to some new reverie, but apparently someone decided to take that idea and make it into a feature film.
If you think that was a joke, then I’ve got bad news for you. There’s numerous articles citing Monster Trucks’ origins as a conversation between then Paramount president Adam Goodwin and his four-year-old son. Take a breath, let that sink in, and then we’ll move on to the film’s $125 million budget and $115 million expected loss.
Yeah, Paramount’s already taken a write off on the project, which was first set for release in the summer of 2015. That Paramount is releasing it at all is indicative of the studio’s current health, which is struggling with the faltering Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series and the aging Transformers, Star Trek, and Mission: Impossible franchises.
Parent company Viacom is leeching money overall, and Paramount’s reported $445 million loss in fiscal 2016 is a major weight. Just two years ago, Viacom chose not to sell the already shaky Paramount, instead limiting the studio’s release schedule to 15 films a year with a focus on their ‘safe’ existing properties. With its franchises reporting underwhelming numbers or outright losses, the strategy is already failing and can’t afford mistakes like Monster Trucks.
So while the boy and his creature movie looks like a laughably silly project, don’t be so quick to blame the concept or the 4-year-old who came up with it. With a modest budget, the feel-good family film would’ve likely turned a profit. The studio who let it balloon into a $125 million live action/computer animation behemoth should be held accountable, and they’re already licking their (many) financial wounds.
Monster Trucks is directed by Chris Wedge and stars Lucas Till, Jane Levy, and Rob Lowe. It will be released in the U.K. on December 26th, 2016 and in the U.S. on January 13th, 2017. For international release dates, click here.
Do you think Monster Trucks will be as big a bomb as Paramount is expecting? Let us know in the comments!
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