{"id":648305,"date":"2026-05-04T04:42:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T04:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/648305\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T04:42:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T04:42:18","slug":"anthony-mackie-film-desert-warrior-bombs-with-596k-opening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/648305\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Mackie film Desert Warrior bombs with $596K opening"},"content":{"rendered":"

You probably haven\u2019t seen the new action film Desert Warrior, and chances are you won\u2019t hear much about it either. <\/p>\n

The historical drama has epically failed to attract cinemagoers in the US, clocking up just $US596k domestically ($827,000) after its opening weekend despite a filming budget of $US150 million ($208 million). <\/p>\n

The film, which has since been billed by industry insiders as one of the biggest box-office flops in history, screened on 1,010 cinemas across North America, on average earning a minuscule $US467 ($647) per cinema. <\/p>\n

With its massive $US150 million budget, the film (released in the US on April 26) was able to sign big-name stars such as Captain America\u2019s Anthony Mackie and Oscar winner Ben Kingsley, with Rise of the Planet of the Apes\u2019 Rupert Wyatt calling the shots in the director\u2019s seat.<\/p>\n

Desert Warrior \u2013 described as a modern day answer to Lawrence of Arabia \u2013 is set in seventh-century Arabia and follows Princess Hind (Aiysha Hart), who defies the ruthless Emperor Kisra (Kingsley) rather than becoming his concubine. <\/p>\n

The princess flees into the desert to team up with a bandit named Hanzala (Mackie), who makes himself an enemy of the emperor for helping her and a fugitive king attempt to topple his empire.<\/p>\n

Box-office flop aside, the action film experienced a series of setbacks and took five whole years to get on screens. <\/p>\n

According to Deadline<\/a>, \u201cbudget bloat\u201d and \u201ccreative differences\u201d with Wyatt caused the director to initially leave the project, later returning. And the film sat in post-production limbo for years, with even crew members \u201cleft wondering if it would never get a theatrical release\u201d.<\/p>\n

There were also high hopes for the Saudi Arabian-backed film as it was one of the first big releases under the country\u2019s trillion-dollar Public Investment Fund (PIF) to focus on entertainment and sports in the region in an attempt to diversify their economy. <\/p>\n

However, the movie also flopped in its home country where it was released in tandem with the US. <\/p>\n

Deadline reports that Desert Warrior grossed just $US87,000 ($120,000) from 6,100 screenings in Saudi Arabia over its opening weekend. <\/p>\n

Insiders close to the film believed that its release was not well timed given the war raging in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\u201cCinemagoers don\u2019t have the appetite for a film about a desert war in the middle of a literal desert war,\u201d the outlet reported.<\/p>\n

The insider added that the studio considered delaying Desert Warrior\u2019s release after Donald Trump bombed Iran, but they were reluctant to undergo any more delays after an agonising five years.<\/p>\n

Many critics have taken to social media perplexed as to where the $US150 million was spent because it sure wasn\u2019t spent on marketing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve literally never even heard of this \u2013 what on earth did they spend that $150 million on?\u201d one tweeted on X, as another agreed, \u201cHorrible marketing cuz I\u2019ve never even heard of this movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody even knew about this movie. This is my first time seeing it,\u201d one added, as another commented, \u201cThis is my first time hearing about this movie, that\u2019s probably why I haven\u2019t seen any promotion for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, there were some positive voices in the mix.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watched the trailer no lie that mf actually looks like it could be aight lol,\u201d one shared as another wrote, \u201cIt\u2019s good. Watch it.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You probably haven\u2019t seen the new action film Desert Warrior, and chances are you won\u2019t hear much about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":648306,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[313755,313753,2095,89743,1724,64,63,43033,5604,109302,313758,30325,247538,313754,238879,313764,2490,134,313756,313763,313757,2105,313761,313759,29973,297503,5575,3163,53460,313762,39008,298152,2041,2067,78724,269102,313765,216712,62752,313760,311381,241575,14640,12540,2614,12000],"class_list":["post-648305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-action-film","tag-all-time-flop","tag-america","tag-anthony-mackie","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-ben-kingsley","tag-box-office","tag-box-office-flop","tag-budget-bloat","tag-chris-evans","tag-christine-salazar","tag-civil-war-co-stars","tag-crew-members","tag-desert-war","tag-donald-trump","tag-entertainment","tag-film-sat","tag-filming-budget","tag-fugitive-king","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-hind","tag-historic-box-office-fail","tag-home-country","tag-industry-insiders","tag-iran","tag-jr","tag-kanye","tag-kisra","tag-lawrence","tag-marvel-star","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-opening-weekend","tag-oscar-winner","tag-positive-voices","tag-public-investment-fund","tag-randy-couture","tag-real-body","tag-robert-downey","tag-rupert-wyatt","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-southern-asia","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-western-asia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}