He is undoubtedly one of the best living filmmakers still working today, Ridley Scott Still going strong at 86. As the four-time Oscar nominee prepares to unleash his The second wrestler About the fans in November 2024Scott was reflecting on his 60-year career in show business. While great classics of all time like Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise, Gladiator, and Black Hawk Down Scott's most commercially and critically successful films include several such films as 1492: Conquest of Paradise It failed to achieve strong numbers at the box office.
Although there are many factors that always contribute to the financial failure of a film release, Scott claims that 1492 It was rejected by the American public in 1992 because they could not understand the European accents. Whether that is true or not, 1492 It joins a small subset of titles directed by Scott, such as white storm and The last duelA film that lost money at the box office relative to its production budget deserves close scrutiny to understand why Americans failed to respond to the story of Christopher Columbus's discovery of the Americas on the 500th anniversary of his arrival.
What is the theme of 1492: Conquest of Heaven?
Written by Rose Bush, 1492: Conquest of Paradise It's an epic scene with a big budget. Christopher Columbus's Voyage to the New WorldThe film was planned to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Columbus's famous voyage in 1492, and stars French actor Gerard Depardieu as the Italian explorer. While casting a Frenchman to provide the Italian accent may not have been the best idea and may lend credence to Scott's assessment of European accents, other factors played a role in the film's failure.
In addition to Depardieu's poor casting and his obvious accent as Columbus, director Ridley Scott's historical biopic has been accused of taking too many inaccurate liberties.The film follows Columbus's voyage to obtain funds for his voyage from Queen Isabella I (Sigourney Weaver) in exchange for gold and silver. When Columbus misleads his crew, a mutiny ensues before they reach the Bahamas. Frenchman Depardieu, who plays an Italian, begins teaching Spanish to the natives, which may further confuse audiences due to the different accents and European dialects.
While it's hard to imagine that this is the sole reason the film failed, Scott may have a point. However, he is the only one who bears responsibility for the casting. Scott was adamant about casting Depardieu in the role and threatened not to make the film if another actor was cast..
During his second voyage, Columbus returned to the Caribbean island with 17 ships and over 1,000 men. Upon his arrival, he learned that the natives had killed the settlers they had left behind. A war broke out between the natives and the Europeans, with the Europeans forcing the natives to mine gold as slaves and the violent chaos escalating. Columbus was discredited for discovering the New World, which was instead attributed to the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, hence the name “America.”
Commercial and monetary response to 1492, illustrated
Due to the epic nature of the production, 1492 was budgeted at $47 million (according to Box Office Mojo), which is equivalent to $105 million in 2024 dollars. Expensive, full-size replicas of Columbus's ships were built. However, despite the expensive efforts to bring a great marvel to audiences on the big screen, the film performed poorly at the box office. Against a budget of $47 million, the film grossed just $7.2 million, ranking as Ridley Scott's biggest financial failure ever..only white storm ($10 million total vs. $38 million budget) and The last duel ($30 million gross vs. $100 million budget) comes close.
Before addressing the causes of silence 1492A box office bomb, the film was not a huge success among critics. 32% rating on Rotten Tomatoes With a Metascore score of 47, the film has far more problems than Americans' distaste for European accents. According to the RT critical consensus:
“Ridley Scott's account of Christopher Columbus's exploits is an epic that lacks grandeur or insight, is historically inaccurate and undramatic.”
Some historical inaccuracies include the continuation of The Spanish Black Legend , which embraces anti-Spanish and anti-Catholic propaganda (via El Mundo). While some critics like Roger Ebert have defended the film and Depardieu's performance, another major factor played a major role in the 1492Business revolution.
In August 1992, two months ago 1492: Conquest of Heaven Opened in theaters, John Glenn Similar Topics Christopher Columbus: The Discovery beat scott hardWhile Glenn's film was also a box office flop, grossing $8.2 million against a $45 million budget (via Box Office Mojo), it was still more profitable than 1492Most importantly, the story covered the same territory as Scott's film, presenting 1492 Redundant when issued after 2 months Discovery. Scott confirms that 1492 It sank because of the American audience's inability to understand European accents, but the combination of Discovery The film was released in theaters first, and critical reviews of 1492 were the finale.
Why does Ridley Scott blame European accents for the failure of 1492?
When promoting Gucci House, Scott spoke to GamesRadar when the topic was… 1492 When asked about the film's mixed reception, Scott praised Depardieu's performance as Columbus but blamed the studio and American audiences for the poor reception, saying:
“Oh! I mean, Gerard is great. I don’t think his French accent was a hindrance at all, because I could totally understand what he was doing. But the studio was like, ‘Yeah, we can’t understand him.’”
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Scott continued to scold American viewers, adding:
“In America, they’re not used to different accents. You don’t hear anything unless it’s from Texas or America, right? Or North Carolina. In Europe, we’re used to different accents, so Gerard’s accent didn’t bother me at all. But this was an independent film, and I made $47 million for an independent film, are you kidding me? In Cannes, a friend at Paramount bought the rights for $10 million. Then I had to sit in Cannes, which I hadn’t done since The Duelists, and my Cannes experience wasn’t good on The Duelists, I didn’t want to go back. But I had to go back and do a screening of the film. The production design was fantastic.
In addition to blaming the unsophisticated Americans 1492After his failure, Scott criticized the Gen Z audience who are addicted to their smartphones. The last duel It failed at the box office. However, Scott quickly noticed that 1492 The film was not as successful as expected in the United States, but in Europe it grossed $57 million. Although it's not enough to surpass Scott's highest-grossing films, 1492 Often forgotten among Scott's films.
1492: Conquest of Paradise Available to stream on Kanopy and rent on Apple TV.
