It looks like Anthony Mackie’s latest film, Desert Warrior, will be a major flop.
According to Slash Film, the Rupert Wyatt-helmed offering, which opened on April 24, has only earned $487,848 across 1,000 screens in North America. That means Desert Warrior is on track to have one of the worst box office openings ever, made worse by its huge $150 million production budget.
Set in seventh-century Arabia, the film follows Princess Hind (Aiysha Hart) as she escapes into the desert after refusing to be the emperor’s concubine. She becomes a warrior and, with the help of Hanzala (Mackie) and warring tribes, fights the emperor. The cast is rounded out by Ben Kingsley, Sharlto Copley, and Numan Acar.
Desert Warrior was shot in Saudi Arabia, with filming starting in late 2021 and ending in early 2022, and it was funded by the Saudi-based MBC Group. The real problems reportedly arose during post-production, when, according to Deadline, Wyatt abdicated his role due to “disagreements about the film’s tone,” for him only to return.
“A source privy to the discussions says Wyatt wanted to deliver a nuanced, authored movie, while MBC had more of a Braveheart-style vision for the picture,” the publication added.
The historical action film, which currently has a 29 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, was also barely marketed in the US. As Slash Film points out, the film’s performance might change after its global release.
