Doom
Rate Movie[Total: 32 Average: 3.3]
- Directed By: Andrzej Bartkowiak
- Written By: Wesley Strick, Dave Callaham
- Release Date: October 21, 2005
- Domestic Distributor: Universal
- Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Karl Urban, Rosamund Pike
Box Office Info:
| Budget: $60 million | Financed by: Universal; Relativity |
|---|---|
| Domestic Box Office: $28,212,337 | Overseas Box Office: $27,774,984 |
Universal first acquired the theatrical rights to the Doom property in 1994, following the release of Doom II but the project never materialized and the rights eventually reverted back to id Software. An attempt was made to set the game adaptation up at Sony, but that also fell apart.
The company then partnered with producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura and John Wells to get Doom to the big screen. They took the project over to Warner Bros in September 2002 and ip Software brokered a deal with the studio for no money upfront, with the incentive that WB would have 15 months to get Doom in front of the cameras or lose the rights. Once again Doom did not come together, but in June 2004 the rights were scooped up by Universal, which finally gave this ridiculous project a greenlight.
The budget for Doom was $60 million and it was co-financed by Universal and Relativity. Relativity’s investment was through their hedge fund Gun Hill I, where investors pooled $600 million across 17 films for Universal and Sony. Doom was one of seven films to lose money for Gun Hill I.
Former cinematographer turned director Andrzej Bartkowiak was offered the vid-game pic a month before filming began, after the original director was replaced and Bartkowiak was given a pay-or-play deal from Universal. He must have one hell of an agent to land a pay-or-play deal, considering his last two directing assignments were disposable junk Cradle 2 The Grave and the Steven Seagal vehicle Exit Wounds.
Universal dated Doom for October 21, 2005 and it bowed against Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story, North Country and Stay. Doom was given a strong marketing push and was tracking for a high teens opening. Reviews were predictably poor and the movie only attracted one quadrant, which were young males and Doom came in slightly below expectations at $15,488,870 — winning the slow weekend. The movie was incredibly front loaded and sank 72.7% the following frame to $4,228,385 and fell 53.3% in its third session to $1,976,080. The domestic run closed with a weak $28,212,337.
Doom tanked in most overseas markets and cumed $27,774,984. The worldwide total was $55.9 million. Universal would see returned about $30.7M after theaters take their percentage of the gross, which would leave much of the worldwide P&A costs in the red and the budget at a loss.
Andrzej Bartkowiak’s next directing assignment would be his last studio picture — the humiliating 2009 disaster and also vid-game pic Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. Before finding his footing as a reliable box office draw, Dwayne Johnson weathered a series of flops that began with The Rundown, then Walking Tall, Doom, Gridiron Gang and Southland Tales.
DOOM is one of the greatest FPS franchises of all time, from the classic 90s MS-DOS days to more recently with DOOM 2016. This movie is a mess. An entertaining mess sometimes, but not much else. Thank god, no one at either Bethesda or id will let someone make a DOOM movie again.