King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

After 2004's King Arthur, Warner Bros. made multiple attempts to make a new film based on Arthurian legend: one was a remake of Excalibur (1981), helmed by Bryan Singer, while the other was a film titled Arthur & Lancelot, which would have starred Kit Harington and Joel Kinnaman in the title roles respectively.[9] Warner Bros. worried that neither name was big enough, and attempted to replace both actors with more profitable ones, before eventually dropping the project altogether.[9]

Warner's next attempt to create a new King Arthur film was an attempt to create an Arthurian cinematic universe which would span six films, following different characters before their eventual team up.[9] For this endeavour they hired director Guy Ritchie, who had himself wanted to make a King Arthur movie for several years. According to The Guardian, the script soon became "a strange Frankenstein's Monster-style screenplay" incorporating elements from several of the unproduced Arthurian scripts.[9]

Bergès-Frisbey's character was originally intended to be Guinevere.[10][11] During production, the connection to Guinevere was dropped and the character became simply "the Mage".[11][12] In an interview with Den of Geek, Hunnam ascribes the change to "partly the film, and partly the actor dictating that is [sic] was going to be something different, and Guy having the confidence and versatility to just roll with it and realise that what he intended wasn’t going to work, and him recognising the value of that being something else."[11]

Hunnam at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con International, to promote King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.

In August 2014, Charlie Hunnam, Ritchie's choice for the role, was cast to play King Arthur.[13] Elizabeth Olsen was in talks for the female lead,[14] but on 18 September, Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey landed the role instead.[15] On 14 November, Jude Law was in talks to play the lead villain role in the film.[16] On 11 February 2015, Eric Bana was added to the cast to play Uther, the father of King Arthur.[17] Mikael Persbrandt joined the film on 6 March 2015, to play a villainous role.[18] Although there were reports Idris Elba had been cast, he would confirm, in a Reddit AMA, this was a rumour.[19][20]

Filming in Windsor Great Park was underway in February 2015,[21] then later in North Wales from 2 March 2015.[22] In April 2015, filming took place in Snowdonia, where locations used were Tryfan, Nant Gwynant near Beddgelert and Capel Curig.[23] Early in July filming continued in the Shieldaig, Loch Torridon and Applecross areas of Wester Ross in the Scottish Highlands. One day of filming also took place at The Quiraing on the Isle of Skye. Filming also took place at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden.

In April 2014, Warner Bros. set the film for a 22 July 2016 release, alongside Lights Out, but it was then moved by Warner Bros. to 17 February 2017, alongside Maze Runner: The Death Cure.[27] Warner Bros. moved the release date to 24 March 2017.[28] The title was changed to King Arthur: Legend of the Sword in July 2016.[29] In December 2016 the release date was again moved, this time to 12 May 2017, possibly so as not to compete with CHiPs.[30][31]

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword was released on DVD, Blu-ray, 3D Blu-ray and Ultra HD on 8 August 2017.[32]

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword grossed $39.2 million in the United States and Canada and $107 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $146.2 million, against a production budget of $175 million.[3] Deadline Hollywood calculated the film lost Warner Bros. $153.2 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues.[33]

In North America, the film was released alongside Snatched and Lowriders and was initially projected to gross around $25 million from 3,702 theatres during its opening weekend.[6] It made $1.15 million from Thursday night previews at about 3,200 theatres, but after making just $5.3 million on Friday, weekend projections were lowered to $15 million.[34] It ended up debuting to $15.4 million, finishing third at the box office. Deadline Hollywood noted that due to the film's $175 million production budget, as well as at least an additional $100 million spent on marketing, the film was destined to be a box office bomb.[35] Regarding the cost of the film, the site quoted one finance expert as saying: "Make original IP [intellectual property] for a cost effective price. If it works then spend more if necessary on the sequel. King Arthur should have been done for $60–80 [million]. Warner Bros. had no reason to spend $175M-plus on this picture."[25] Comparing its opening to cost, IndieWire called the film's failings "historic".[36] The Hollywood Reporter noted that the film would likely lose about $150 million.[8] In its second weekend the film grossed $7.2 million (a drop of 53.5%), finishing 5th at the box office.[37]

The film debuted at No. 1 in an estimated 29 countries, including Russia, with openings to follow in the United Kingdom, France, South Korea and Australia.[38] Over its opening weekend, it made $29.1 million worldwide.[39]

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 31% based on 279 reviews and an average rating of 4.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword piles mounds of modern action flash on an age-old tale – and wipes out much of what made it a classic story in the first place."[40] On Metacritic, the film has a score 41 out of 100 based on 45 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[41] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reporter filmgoers gave it an overall positive score of 78%; 56% of the opening weekend filmgoers were under the age of 35, and 59% were men.[25]

Writing for The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw gave the film a generally positive review: "Guy Ritchie's cheerfully ridiculous Arthur is a gonzo monarch, a death-metal warrior-king. Ritchie's film is at all times over the top, crashing around its digital landscapes in all manner of berserkness, sometimes whooshing along, sometimes stuck in the odd narrative doldrum. But it is often surprisingly entertaining, and whatever clunkers he has delivered in the past, Ritchie again shows that a film-maker of his craft and energy commands attention, and part of his confidence in reviving King Arthur resides here in being so unselfconscious and unconcerned about the student canon that has gone before."[42]

In a pan of the film for the Chicago Tribune, Michael Phillips questioned the long-term longevity of the projected series of six Arthur films from Ritchie: "I'm no businessman, but plans for a six-film franchise may be optimistic. Optimism is nowhere to be found in Ritchie's movie itself. It is a grim and stupid thing, from one of the world's most successful mediocre filmmakers, and if Shakespeare's King Lear were blogging today, he'd supply the blurb quote: 'Nothing will come of nothing.'."[43] Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave the film one-and-a-half out of four stars, stating that despite the potential for a revisionist King Arthur story with "[t]he Ritchie sense of style", the overall problem is the film's lack of modulation: "Ritchie keeps rushing us along for two hours, as if to make absolutely certain that we never have time to absorb any character or moment, much less revel in the glorious, cheeky ridiculousness of the whole thing."[44]

Alissa Wilkinson of Vox writes that the film is "surprisingly good, and surprisingly political" in relation to the British withdrawal from the European Union, and "occasionally, it's even pretty great".[45] Chris Hartwell of The Hollywood Reporter expressed disappointment in the film's lackluster box office performance denying a sequel for the introduction of Merlin, stating it would have been more successful as a solo film instead of setting up a franchise.[46]

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword was nominated in four categories at the 2017 Golden Trailer Awards: "Throne" (Open Road Entertainment) for Best Action, "Story" (Wild Card) for both Best Original Score and Best Sound Editing, and "Rules 60" (Wild Card) for Best Fantasy Adventure TV Spot (for a Feature Film).[47][48] At the Golden Reel Awards 2017, the film received a nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Music Score.[49]