Lionsgate
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Tom Holland has become one of our true A-list stars over the last decade largely thanks to his role as Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Though Spider-Man completely changed Holland's Hollywood career path, it would be difficult to argue that it hasn't worked out. His initial "Spider-Man" trilogy was enormously successful, with "Spider-Man: No Way Home" becoming one of the biggest movies ever. But in the midst of his run as Spidey, he boarded another sci-fi film with major franchise potential. It just didn't pan out.
Specifically, Holland led 2021's "Chaos Walking," a young adult sci-fi film that co-starred Daisy Ridley ("Star Wars: The Force Awakens") and was directed by Doug Liman ("Edge of Tomorrow"). As such, it had a lot going for it on paper, including very beloved source material in the form of the novel trilogy by author Patrick Ness. Beginning with "The Knife of Never Letting Go," Lionsgate optioned Ness' books in the hopes of generating another hit YA franchise. Indeed, this was one of many attempts by major studios to replicate the success of the YA box office hit "The Hunger Games" around that time.
"Chaos Walking" takes place in the future and centers on Todd (Holland), a young man who discovers Viola (Ridley), a mysterious young woman, has crash-landed on his planet. Todd's world, you see, is a place where all the women have disappeared and men are afflicted by "the Noise," a strange force that allows others to perceive their thoughts.
Everything seemed to be going well. Ness' original books were incredibly well received and had a built-in audience. The "Chaos Walking" movie adaptation had two leads who belonged to massively popular ongoing franchises. And Liman had proven himself to be a sturdy blockbuster filmmaker. So, why did things go so terribly wrong?
Chaos Walking was a disaster behind the scenes
Lionsgate
This was Daisy Ridley's first tentpole following the complicated $1 billion box office hit that was "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker." It was also Tom Holland's first post-"Avengers: Endgame" project. That wasn't always the plan, though.
"Chaos Walking" had been in the works for years and was met with several major setbacks along the way. Filming initially began in late 2017, but it stretched on far longer since there were issues during the post-production phase. A 2019 report described "Chaos Walking" as "unreleasable," with Lionsgate spending millions on reshoots to try and salvage the film. Director Fede Álvarez ("Don't Breathe") even worked on said reshoots.
What's more, there were reports of poor test screenings along with scheduling issues due to Ridley's filming commitments on "The Rise of Skywalker" and Holland's on "Spider-Man: Far From Home." It was a mess. All the while, the budget ballooned to north of $100 million, with reports suggesting that number went as high as $125 million. That runs counter to part of what made a lot of 2000s YA movies work. "The Maze Runner" was the best bang-for-buck hit of the YA trend due to its thrifty $34 million budget, for example.
The other problem? In 2020, Hollywood shut down entirely due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with theaters all around the world closed for months on end. As a result, "Chaos Walking" was delayed again in December 2020. By that time, the film's reputation had caught up with it, and Lionsgate was fighting an uphill battle. Granted, the world and the industry had bigger problems to contend with, but the studio still had an over-budgeted blockbuster it had to release. Ultimately, the movie arrived in theaters, somewhat unceremoniously, on the weekend of March 5, 2021.
Chaos Walking squandered the potential of its source material
Lionsgate
"Chaos Walking" opened theatrically to lousy reviews and little fanfare, as theaters were only just getting back on their feet, with vaccines still rolling out to the general public. The movie also opened against Disney's "Raya and the Last Dragon," which topped the charts with $8.5 million. Doug Liman's pricey YA flick had to settle for third place with just $3.7 million. Lionsgate essentially dumped the film.
As one might guess, it never really got much better from there, and the once-promising adaptation topped out with just $27 million worldwide, making it a major box office flop. It didn't help that 2021 was really a recovery year for theaters. Yes, the box office was projected to finish 80% above 2020 by October of 2021, with the final number close to 112%, but it was still a paltry sum compared to the pre-pandemic days.
The shame of it is that Patrick Ness' books won multiple awards, including the Guardian Award, and were best-sellers. There was real potential for them as fuel for a movie franchise. Instead, all of that potential wound up being squandered somewhere along the way. Speaking to Empire in 2024, Daisy Ridley reflected on the whole situation, stating:
"I think that was a lesson in you just don't know how things are gonna roll. And that is very much something I signed on to as an actor. I loved the initial script, the idea, the world. I love the books. You sign on, and you do what you can."
Unfortunately, Ridley and Tom Holland weren't able to do enough to save this movie from itself, despite their best efforts.
English (US) ·